Slain 20 year old's cousin also a murder victim

By Jenny Yuen

Christopher Rookwood, 20, was shot and killed in a townhouse complex on Tobermory Dr. early Saturday morning.

TORONTO - Patricia Ellis can’t believe she’s lost two nephews to gun violence in just over a year.
The aunt of Christopher Rookwood — the city’s 39th and latest murder victim — is now reliving the nightmare of grieving over another family member.
Rookwood’s cousin Nate Thompson was lured to a Jane-Sheppard townhouse complex and shot in the head in August 2010.
And on Saturday, Ellis heard the news that 20-year-old Rookwood was shot to death at another nearby townhouse complex on Tobermory Dr., near Finch Ave. W.
“I don’t know why he was there,” Ellis, 50, said. “He was at the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s so hard. I love him so much.”
Police arrived at a townhouse complex at 32 Torbermory Dr. around 2 a.m. and found the 20-year-old with a gunshot wound to the chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene and “suffered significant injuries,” said Staff Sgt. Frank Barredo.
Another man later showed up at Humber Regional Hospital with a gun shot wound to the leg.
“He was unco-operative, but we believe the incidents to be connected,” Barredo said.
Rookwood had a hard life with an absent father out of the picture, Ellis said. His mother. Bertha, 50, remains in Jamaica. She sent him to Canada for a better life. He never hung around gangs or got involved with drugs.
Rookwood just turned 20 on Sept.19.
“Whoever has these guns, I want them to get rid of these people,” she said.
No word yet on funeral arrangements, but the family is organizing a trust fund in Rookwood’s name.
Several males may have been involved and as many as 10 shots may have been fired, Barredo said.
At the other end of the city, Toronto Police are continuing to piece together why a 19-year-old was shot in a stairwell of an east-end apartment high-rise.
Officers continued to combed 90 Eastdale Ave. in the Main St.-Danforth Ave. area Saturday after Bradley Matheson, 19, was found shot in the chest Friday afternoon in the north stairwell between the fifth and sixth floors. He died at the scene.
“At this point, he isn’t somebody who is known to us, other than contact cards,” said homicide Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux. “We’re turning to those two highrise buildings because they’re connected to determine what was going on. There’s video that we’re pouring over and there’s a canvass as well.”