Man charged with first-degree murder in Garden restaurant shooting
Posted August 18, 2015 5:42 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A 30-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a fatal shooting at a downtown Toronto restaurant last November.
Tariq Mohammed, 31, was shot and killed at Garden Restaurant – on Dundas Street West near Bay Street – around 4 a.m. on Nov. 16, after he and his friend were targeted for his friend’s gold chains worth about $4,000. Two women also on the scene suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Police said Abdirisak Yusuf Ibrahim, of no fixed address, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with first-degree murder and robbery.
Ibrahim was the focus of a Canada-wide warrant and was believed to have been in Regina.
In January, police arrested Marcus Gibson, 22, and charged him with first-degree murder, armed robbery assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon, and failing to comply.
Ceyon Carrington, 28, was charged armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, and two counts of fail to comply.
Charges against both men were stayed when it was determined they were identified incorrectly by police.
Police said Mohammed and his friends had taken a cab to Garden, on Dundas Street West near Bay Street, after an ordinary evening at Muzik Nightclub on the Exhibition Place grounds.
The restaurant was full – about 60 to 80 people were inside – and Mohammed and his friends were at the front near the windows.
They were eating at the time the suspects walked into the restaurant and took up position by the front doors and the washrooms at the back.
When Mohammed and his friend decided to go to the washroom, they were set upon by the suspects, armed with semi-automatic guns, and pushed into the women’s washroom. The suspects grabbed two of the friend’s chains and pistol-whipped Mohammed, who managed to help his friend get away.
After the suspects composed themselves and hid their firearms, they went back out into the restaurant and got into another struggle with Mohammed and his friend at the front takeout counter.
One of the suspects fired two shots, hitting two women, and in the ensuing struggle, Mohammed fell behind the counter.
It was then he was shot several times and died. The two women had non-life-threatening injuries.
Police said it wasn’t clear if the suspects went to the restaurant because they’d heard about the expensive jewellery or if it was a crime of opportunity.
