Suspect arrested in random fatal attack of unhoused man at U of T campus
Posted March 21, 2025 1:40 pm.
Last Updated March 21, 2025 10:57 pm.
Toronto police have arrested the suspect wanted in connection to the death of 60-year-old man who was killed in what investigators say was a random attack early Thursday morning.
Police say Mario Ferreira was lying on a bench at the University of Toronto campus off College Street when another man approached him just before 5:30 a.m.
Surveillance video shows the suspect picking up some “debris” which investigators say may have come from a nearby construction site or dumpster in the area, before continuing to walk through the surrounding neighbourhood.
“Without any warning or provocation, the suspect approaches Mr. Ferreira who is lying on the bench and he uses that debris to assault him repeatedly and violently,” said Det. Sgt. Trevor Grieve.
Police say they were called at around 8:20 a.m. when a bystander contacted campus security and they called emergency responders but despite life-saving measures, Ferreira was pronounced dead.
Police say Ferreira was an unhoused resident of Toronto and not affiliated with the university.
Investigators released images of the suspect at a press conference on Friday morning and he was arrested just hours later. Police say they were able to make an arrest thanks to a tip from the public.
Adimabua Chukwuka, 31, of Toronto, has been charged with first-degree murder. He is set to appear in court on Saturday morning.
This is the fifth homicide of the year.
The suspect is known to police, who confirm he’s the same man arrested in at least two other violent incidents.
Chukwuka was charged after he allegedly stabbed a man in North York in April 2022.
Nearly a decade earlier, in April 2014, he was charged with attempted murder and robbery stemming from an incident in the Yonge and Gerrard streets area.
