Dane Dillon, 27, was before the courts on 2010 kidnapping charges. (Supplied photo) TORONTO - A 27-year-old gunned down in the city’s east end over the weekend — just steps away from a memorial event for another Thanksgiving murder victim — was allegedly among a group of thugs who kidnapped, tortured and held a man for ransom last year.
Toronto Police don’t believe Dane Dillon’s slaying had anything to do with the violent abduction or Sunday’s gathering to remember Kareme Parks, 20, who was shot and killed at the same housing complex in 2006. “But I am hoping somebody at that memorial saw what happened,” homicide Det.-Sgt. Pauline Gray said Tuesday. She said there were “a lot of people” at the O’Connor Community Centre and those who lingered afterward may have witnessed the shooting out front of the nearby highrise off Victoria Park Ave. south of Eglinton Ave. E. Even if they saw something leading up to the murder, someone being shoved, Gray said such information could be helpful. “It may seem totally innocuous but we want to know about it,” she said. Police were called to 90 Parma Ct. just after 11 p.m. Sunday and found Dillon in the parking lot suffering from fatal gunshot wounds to his torso. Detectives are viewing video seized from several cameras but so far haven’t released a description of the gunman. Earlier in the day an event was held in Regent Park to remember seven murder victims slain on Thanksgiving over the last five years. Parks’ mother Debbie attended that event, then hours later held her own memorial in the community centre at Parma Ct. for her son, who was shot dead at a nearby basketball court. “I don’t believe that event had anything to do with the homicide,” Gray said. Dillon is now the eighth person to be killed in Toronto on Thanksgiving in five years. He’s also the city’s 37th murder victim of the year. The Scarborough resident and four others were accused of abducting a man near Jane St. and Wilson Ave. and burning him with a clothes iron in April, 2010. They allegedly drove the 24-year-old to a hideout in Hamilton and demanded a five-figure ransom from his family. The victim was released in Toronto a day later and no money was paid to his captors. Gray urged people to remember the charges against Dillon were still before the courts. And regardless of whether or not he was an unsavoury character, she said his killer remains on the loose and he’s thought to be armed and dangerous
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.”
