Man fatally shot after attending friend’s memorial near Regent Park

Police have identified Toronto’s latest homicide victim. He is Julian Weekes, 27, of Toronto, who was shot to death after attending a memorial celebration for his friend near Regent Park on Saturday.

Weekes was shot multiple times early Saturday morning near Parliament and Queen streets around 2 a.m.

Police discovered him lying in the parking lot of a Shell gas station several blocks away.

“Julian was found by 51 Division officers lying on the ground, clinging to life, in a large pool of blood in the parking lot of the Shell gas station located at Parliament Street and Richmond Street,” said Det. Sgt. Mike Patterson.

Paramedics said the man had multiple gunshot wounds and, despite lifesaving measures, he was pronounced dead on scene.

“They were able to track the male’s last steps as it turns out by following the blood trail back up to Queen Street where they located a secondary scene,” said Patterson. “They located some shell casings up there which is where we believe the shooting would have occurred.”

Police said he was attending a memorial celebration at Annie’s Bar at 372 Queen Street East for his friend Ceyon Carrington and was in the company of many friends.

“From what we know at this point we think it was just a shooting on the street, not a drive-by,” said Patterson.

Carrington was a 29-year-old man who was shot to death on March 23 near Queen Street East and Carlaw Avenue. He was shot multiple times and transported to hospital, where he later succumbed to his wounds.

Carrington spent five months in jail last year before charges of armed robbery and aggravated assault against him were stayed in connection to the fatal 2014 shooting of 31-year-old Tarik Mohammed at Garden Restaurant.

“Ceyon was murdered on March 23 in the area of Carlaw and Queen in Toronto much in the same way that Julian was by a coward carrying a gun,” said Patterson.

According to police, Weekes tried to get the attention of motorists traveling along Parliament by banging on them.

Patterson said witnesses described Weekes as running, then walking along Queen Street before moving south on Parliament, and “he looked as if he was drunk.”

“I was just about to go in the house and I heard five rapid gunshots,” said one eye witness who would only give his name as Mike. “I never heard gunshots before, but I knew this was gunshots.”

“I saw an individual on the north side of Queen and he’s just running for his life …he was not shot, he was trying to get away from the scene.”

Police said they are searching for one suspect and described him as an athletic male.

Officers believe that the shooter ran towards Power Street to the east and then to the south from Queen Street.

“I am requesting that residents in the area that may have external house video to review it for the time of the shooting and even a little bit prior, any image could be helpful,” said Patterson.

Weekes’s girlfriend and father have come forward to police.

“He comes from a very hardworking family and leaves behind a loving girlfriend, father, mother and three siblings,” said Patterson.

Anyone with information is being asked to contact police.