Police identify man found dead near Oshawa mosque, Homicide Unit takes over

Durham Regional Police have identified a man found dead near the Oshawa Islamic Centre on Thursday and confirm he was at the mosque hours before he was found dead.

Ibrahim Bala, 80, of Oshawa is the city’s seventh homicide victim of the year.

Officers were called to the Simcoe Street South and McGrigor Street area at around 4:20 p.m. Thursday for unknown trouble.

Once on scene, they located the victim with traumatic injuries on a residential property beside the mosque. Life-saving measures were performed, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

In an update Friday, DRPS Const. Nicholas Gluckstein confirmed that Bala was at the mosque prior to the incident that cost him his life. It’s not yet clear if his death is somehow linked to the place of worship.

“We do actually have a timeline,” he said. “We do believe that he left the mosque at approximately 2:30 p.m. that same afternoon.”

Investigators are now trying to determine what transpired between the time he left the mosque, and the time he was found.

Gluckstein stressed that it’s too early to speculate on motive, but said the Hate Crime Unit has been notified and police are not ruling anything out at this point.

He called the victim a “beloved” father and husband who was well-known in the Muslim community.

Gluckstein couldn’t say exactly how Bala was killed, saying police are awaiting the results of an autopsy.

No suspect description is currently available.

The Islamic Centre of Oshawa issued a statement on Friday commenting on the tragedy.

“A very dear community brother lost his life around the premises of the masjid,” the statement reads. “At this point, the police are continuing to investigate this murder. We encourage the community not to speculate at this point as to the motivation of the attacker(s). We are in close contact with the police and all appropriate authorities, and we understand that they are investigating all avenues.”