AKKAD o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2008-01-14 published
Stray bullet kills Toronto man
By Omar EL
AKKAD with a report from
JENNIFER
Lewington,
Page
A1
John O'KEEFE just happened to be walking down Toronto's busiest
street on a Saturday night. That's all it took to cost him his
life.
The 42-year-old Toronto resident and health-food store manager
became the city's second homicide victim of 2008 when he was
killed over the weekend. Mr.
O'KEEFE, an avid environmentalist
and father of a nine-year-old boy, was hit in the head by a single
bullet that police believe was never meant for him. Two men now
face first-degree murder charges in connection to the killing.
"The deceased was struck while he was basically just walking
down the street," said Toronto police homicide detective Graham
GIBSON. "He was just walking."
At around 1: 15 a.m. on Saturday, police were called to the Brass
Rail Tavern, a strip club at 701 Yonge Street, just south of Bloor
Street. Two men had just been kicked out of the club after acting
up. After being booted from the tavern, both men began walking
away, but only got a few metres before turning around.
"They did leave, but they didn't go far," said Det.
GIBSON. "
They
took exception with security [at the Brass Rail]."
Upon returning, one of the two men allegedly pulled out a handgun
and fired a single shot. Last night, police said the gun was
registered to one of the suspects. Police believe it was aimed
at members of the security staff outside the club.
Instead, it hit Mr.
O'KEEFE in the head. The victim was pronounced
dead at the scene.
Mr. O'KEEFE's partner described him yesterday as a wonderful
human being who loved the environment.
"Johnny was a great guy; he really was," said Susan
BANAHAN.
"He loved to recycle - you couldn't throw a tissue in the garbage
when he was around."
Mr. O'KEEFE had a nine-year-old son from a previous relationship.
Together with Ms.
BANAHAN and her child, they formed a family.
Ms. BANAHAN said Mr.
O'KEEFE worked as a health-food store manager
at the downtown Exchange Tower. In his spare time, she said,
he liked to walk around the city - the Don Valley was one of
his favourite spots.
At the time of his shooting, Mr.
O'KEEFE was likely walking to
the subway from the Duke of Gloucester, his favourite watering
hole, Ms. BANAHAN said. Like the Brass Rail, the bar is located
near the corner of Yonge and Bloor.
After the shooting, both suspects allegedly ran away, heading
south on Yonge Street for a few metres before turning onto Charles
Street.
But within 12 hours, police had two men in custody.
"We had excellent witnesses: and support from civilians and community
members and people inside [the club]," Det.
GIBSON said. As a
result, police had the first suspect in custody by 11: 45 Saturday
morning, and the second suspect a couple of hours later. Edward
PAREDES, 22, and Awet
ZEKARIAS, 23, both Toronto residents, are
jointly charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder.
They made their first court appearance yesterday morning at Old
City Hall.
Saturday's killing bore eerie similarities to another shooting
that rocked Toronto in December of 2005. Mr.
O'KEEFE was killed
just a few blocks north of where a brazen shootout claimed the
life of 15-year-old Jane
CREBA.
Both victims were never the intended
targets of the bullets that hit them, yet both were the only
ones to die in each incident.
Ms. BANAHAN was devastated by the news of her partner's death
- she spoke to a reporter yesterday just as news of Mr.
O'KEEFE's
killing played out on her television set at home.
"I'm just so sad that he won't be around any more," she said.
Last night, two of his best Friends, in shock over the fluke
of their friend being in the wrong place at the wrong time, remembered
him as a gentle, funny man, "brilliant at darts" and devoted
to his young son and network of Friends.
"As a father, he showed his son Toronto's every ravine and heritage
building," recalls Andrea
ASTER, a friend for the past 20 years.
"He was an ardent environmentalist whose only wish was that his
son would grow up to be an environmental warrior."
She said that Mr.
O'KEEFE, a 6-foot-2-inch man with "piercing
blue eyes," had a way of making and keeping Friends.
"The people who were his Friends were his Friends for life,"
she said.
Another long-time friend, Brian
EATON, 43, met Mr.
O'KEEFE when
they attended the same Scarborough high school. Mr.
EATON said
his younger brother, Tony, 42, who was in the same high-school
class as Mr.
O'KEEFE and remained close Friends, had invited
him to the family cottage in Huntsville this past weekend. But
Mr. O'KEEFE declined so that he could go skating with his son.
"I wish he had gone to the cottage," said Mr.
EATON.
For the past 15 years, he said Mr.
O'KEEFE was a weekly regular
at the Duke of Gloucester pub, where he played darts.
"When I heard of the shooting I thought to myself I hope that
was not Johnny because he was my one friend who might be walking
down Yonge Street because he goes to the Duke," said Mr.
EATON,
adding that his friend's violent end was the opposite of how
he lived.
"He wouldn't know anyone who has a gun or practices violence,"
said Mr. EATON.
"He was a responsible father, a responsible friend, the kind
of guy that everyone loved and every kind word you would think
of, you would apply to him."
Meanwhile, police are looking for witnesses: to a shooting Saturday
night at Rosemary Lane in the Forest Hill neighbourhood. An unidentified
man in his 20s suffered serious injury when he was shot once
in the stomach near Bathurst Street and Eglinton Avenue, but
is recovering in hospital, Toronto Police said yesterday.
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