‘You destroyed us’: $250K reward offered for info leading to arrest in soccer ref’s murder
Posted May 1, 2023 11:49 am.
Last Updated May 1, 2023 7:08 pm.
A reward of up to $250,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in the brazen killing of a 49-year-old Woodbridge man while he was refereeing a soccer game in North York.
Officers responded to calls for shots fired at La Liga Sports Complex in the Finch Avenue West and Alness Street area at around 7:20 p.m. on Sunday, October 9, 2022.
Edwin Farley Alvarado Quintero died after being taken to a local trauma centre. Two other males were injured but survived.
On Monday — on what would have been Quintero’s 50th birthday — Toronto Police Service in conjunction with the Bolo Program announced the $250,000 reward, hoping it will help lead them to the suspect in the case, Cristian Adolfo Cuxum, who was 19 at the time of the shootings.
Toronto police have issued an arrest warrant for 19-year-old Christian Cuxum. TPS/HO
Quintero’s wife, Alexandra Barrera, released a statement on Monday, saying instead of planning her husband’s music-filled 50th celebration “I will be visiting him at the cemetery.”
“To the man who took Edwin’s life: You destroyed us,” she said. “You destroyed our family. You destroyed our plans. Our dreams. Our sense of safety. Our everything. You cannot make that right. But if you turn yourself in, you will allow us to take our next step forward in this nightmare. Maybe then, one day, we can answer the questions that haunt us each day.”
Barrera described her late husband as “respectful, dependable, kind, and patient.”
“He was enthusiastic in everything he did. Edwin always wanted to help people.”
The family came to Canada from Colombia three years ago in hopes of a better life. “We thought we lived in the safest place in the world,” she said. “This is Canada.”
In Colombia, Barrera said her husband was a teacher, psychologist and avid cyclist.
“He loved soccer,” she said. “He loved me and our children. He loved being a dad. And he was a really, really good one. The best dad. The best husband. From the beginning until the end.”
The Bolo Program was launched on May 1, 2018, by the Stéphan Crétier Foundation as a way to amplify cases involving wanted individuals.
Other Toronto suspects on the Top 25 list revealed Monday include:
- Kiarash Parzham wanted for the 2022 murder of Kian Hoseyni (reward up to $50,000)
- Jabreel Elmi, wanted for the 2021 murder of Thane Murray (reward up to $50,000)
- Rajahden Angus Campbell, also wanted for the 2021 murder of Thane Murray
- Kamar Cunningham, wanted for firearms trafficking
- Phillip Grant, wanted for the 2022 murders of Minyali Wur and Chudier Reat
