'SENSELESS ACT OF VIOLENCE' CLAIMS AJAX MAN'S LIFE

INVESTIGATORS BELIEVE ACCUSED ALSO INVOLVED IN TWO ARMED ROBBERIES WHERE CHAIN RIPPED FROM VICTIMS' NECK

A 36-year-old Ajax man who died after being shot in a Scarborough plaza parking lot earlier this month was the victim of a robbery gone wrong, Toronto police said.

On Saturday, May 7, around 3 a.m., Toronto police were called for a shooting at 1154 Morningside Ave., near Sheppard Avenue.

There, they found a man suffering from gunshot wounds. Officers commenced CPR before other emergency responders arrived at the scene.

The victim, identified as Peter Oscar Khan, was rushed to hospital, but was pronounced dead there a short time later. He is Toronto's 25th murder victim of 2022.

During a news conference last week, Det. Sgt. Tiffany Castell, of Homicide and Missing Persons Unit, said Khan was fatally shot by a suspect who attempted to rip the chain from his neck.

She said while tending to Khan, a man in his 20s, who had also been shot during a similar robbery nearby, approached emergency responders for help. This individual was also taken to hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening, injuries. He has since been released from hospital.

The suspect fled the scene in a white Nissan sedan,

police said.

Castell said during their investigation, police examined images and footage from another similar robbery that occurred about 90 minutes earlier near Kennedy and Ellesmere roads.

She said investigators determined the suspect and the getaway vehicle in that case were reportedly the same ones involved in the other two robberies.

On Sunday, May 8, at 4 p.m., an officer from 41 Division's Community Response Unit located the suspect vehicle near Kennedy and Ellesmere. While in the process of seizing it, the suspect reportedly approached, but saw police and ran away. He was apprehended about 15 minutes later in that area following a police pursuit.

Johvan Waldron, 27, of Toronto, was initially charged with robbery with a firearm and held in custody.

Toronto police homicide investigators later identified him as the same man wanted in Khan's murder.

On Tuesday, May 10, Waldron was charged with first-degree murder.

"This was a very, very tragic incident, a senseless act of violence where Mr. Khan lost his life and two other victims were robbed," Castell said.

Investigators are asking for the public's help to determine where the accused was in between the first and two other armed robberies.

They're also looking to speak with anyone who may have witnessed or known something about any of the armed robberies.

Anyone with further information, including video or dashcam footage, is asked to call the homicide squad at 416-808-7400, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416222-8477 (TIPS) or www.222tips.com.