Police receive court’s permission to identify teen sought in Toronto cabbie’s murder
Posted November 9, 2021 12:33 pm.
Last Updated November 14, 2021 12:56 pm.
For the second time, Toronto police have received judicial permission to identify a 17-year-old boy sought in the murder of a taxi driver.
Police say the teenager is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for second-degree murder in the shooting death of 73-year-old Christopher Jung.
Police found Jung suffering from gunshots wounds in his cab in the Pharmacy Avenue and Eglinton Avenue East area on October 24 at around 8:48 p.m.
Initial reports to police said Jung crashed his cab into a fence. When officers arrived, they found him alone and unconscious in his cab with multiple gunshot wounds. He died later at the hospital.
Several days after the homicide, police received judicial permission to name the teen suspect and release his photo, but it expired on November 3.
On Tuesday, Detective Sergeant Henri Marsman said after failing to track the suspect down, police filed a second request to release his identity to the public. The latest authorization expired on November 14, 2021, at 12:00 p.m. and police said the teen’s name and their photograph can no longer be published or broadcast.
Marsman said a third request is unlikely.
“I don’t think we will be seeking another extension, there are limits,” he noted.
Tire tracks on the grass and hole in fence on Pharmacy Ave south of Eglinton show where taxi went off road/crashed after cab driver shot. He was 4th gun murder victim of the weekend in Toronto which had 10 SHOOTING INCIDENTS in 2+ days. The homicide count for 2021 is now at 70 pic.twitter.com/LSIEAYoIFH
— carl hanstke (@carlCityNews) October 25, 2021
Marsman said the suspect was a passenger in Jung’s cab, but he wouldn’t divulge what police believe led to the shooting.
“It (the murder) happened inside the cab,” he said.
“I can’t speak to the motive right now.”
“This is a particularly brutal murder, a violent murder,” he added. “We are eager to take him off the streets.”
Marsman said the 17-year-old is “known to frequent short-term rentals in the downtown core” and he urged him to contact a lawyer and surrender immediately.
Homicide victim Christopher Jung, 73, of Toronto. HANDOUT/Toronto Police Service
