AULAKH o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-01-03 published
son may have been target
Police make arrest in woman's death
By Raveena
AULAKH and Timothy
APPLEBY,
Page A8
Toronto -- Jean
SPRINGER may have been shot down when she tried
to protect her youngest son from a friend who showed up at her
front door with a gun, according to a Toronto police source.
Ms. SPRINGER, 60, was killed on New Year's Day by a single bullet
that struck her in the face. She was pronounced dead at Sunnybrook
hospital, becoming the city's first homicide victim of 2007.
Heavily armed officers arrested 26-year-old Altaf
IBRAHIM 12 hours
later in his basement apartment in Scarborough, a few minutes
drive from the
SPRINGER home. He is charged with first-degree
murder, a charge that implies the killing was planned.
A police source said last night that the gunman may have been
looking for Ms.
SPRINGER's youngest son Antoine, also 26, when
he arrived at the
SPRINGER home in the Malvern neighbourhood
about 2: 30 p.m.
"It looks like there was some kind of dispute between the two
young men and Ms.
SPRINGER got between and got shot," a police
source said.
The accused is said to have known Ms.
SPRINGER's youngest son,
who along with an older brother was in his mother's Snowball
Crescent home Monday as she prepared New Year's Day dinner.
"They grew up together, at least from their teen years," said
Detective Gary
GRINTON of the Toronto homicide squad.
Mr. IBRAHIM lives alone in an apartment on Brimorton Drive. He
was arrested about 2 a.m. yesterday without a struggle. Clad
in orange prison garb, he appeared briefly in court in Scarborough
yesterday and was remanded in custody. Police were still seeking
the handgun allegedly used to kill Ms.
SPRINGER, known locally
as "Auntie Jeannie."
"You have what I believe was a truly innocent woman just going
about her business," Det.
GRINTON said of Ms.
SPRINGER, widely
described as an exemplary citizen, devoted parent and regular
worshipper at the Malvern Methodist Church. "It's shocking."
Neither Mr.
IBRAHIM nor any members of the
SPRINGER family have
criminal records. And if there was any animosity before Monday's
shooting, it had not been manifest in the shape of threats or
any physical altercations, Det.
GRINTON said.
Nor were any gang affiliations involved, he said. "None whatsoever."
He dismissed a news report that said the gunman yelled "Happy
New
Year," as he opened fire, but agreed that because Ms.
SPRINGER
let him into her home, she likely perceived no threat.
Beyond stating that postshooting 911 calls were received from
several neighbours, as well as from within the
SPRINGER home,
detectives would not say what led them to charge Mr.
IBRAHIM
so quickly.
Yesterday, at the three-unit house where Mr.
IBRAHIM has lived
since last summer, few neighbours seemed to know much about the
basement apartment's tall, solitary occupant, who would sometimes
step outside for a cigarette but mostly kept to himself.
"He moved in when the new owner bought the house," said George
BOORNE, who lives across the street and saw the 2 a.m. arrest.
"But I never saw him around."
At the SPRINGER home yesterday, Friends and neighbours voiced
shock and sorrow at the brutal death of a woman described as
a popular pillar of the community who often helped organize local
events.
"I met her on New Year's Eve at the home of one of our sisters,
we had a good time," said Norma
McKENZIE, who had known Ms.
SPRINGER
at the Malvern Methodist Church for 10 years.
Ms. McKENZIE described the family of four as God-fearing, close-knit,
regular church-goers. "Antoine was part of my team at Ford company
and we worked well together."
Other worshippers concurred in praising Ms.
SPRINGER's devotion
to family and church.
"She was closely involved with the church," said Sandra
LECKY,
church secretary. "We know where she is today -- there was no
victory here."
Church staff brought in extra chairs yesterday evening as mourners
packed in to pay their respects. Those in attendance hugged and
consoled one another, occasionally rising in songs.
Reading from a statement prepared by Ms.
SPRINGER's family --
most attended the service but did not want to speak to reporters
youth pastor Marlon
MITCHELL described her as "… quiet, charming,
intelligent and very much understated in manner. She had style
and flair, but all of it counted for nothing compared to how
much she celebrated her relationship with God through Jesus Christ."
Ms. SPRINGER was born in 1946 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and
Tobago. As a student, she won a scholarship to a grammar school
for girls and eventually earned a teacher's diploma. She arrived
in Canada in the late 1960s, and initially continued teaching
primary school. However, she soon switched jobs, becoming an
accountant. Self-employed, she stayed in that line of work until
her death.
But it was her religious faith that stood out above all else,
Friends said yesterday. Indeed, it is that faith that now allows
her family to bear no grudges against the man accused of stepping
into her home and taking her life.
"Today we mourn her loss, but our faith calls on us to forgive
others [as] God has in Christ forgiven us," Mr.
MITCHELL read
from the family's statement yesterday. "Jean had a forgiving
spirit and we are sure that she would want us to forgive whoever
has committed this senseless act."
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