Toronto police still aren’t discussing any potential motive in the deadly shooting of a young technology company CEO who was killed earlier in the week.
Matthew Staikos, a former BlackBerry employee and CEO of the group-chat application Vleepo, was shot while he was walking near Yorkville Avenue and Bay Street in the city’s downtown core at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Monday.
One witness described hearing gunshots and then seeing blood flowing from the victim’s head. Staikos, 37, was pronounced dead on the scene.
At a news conference on Friday afternoon, homicide detective Omar Khan released new surveillance video of a Mercedes Benz parked before what Khan labelled the “unprovoked attack on a defenceless man.”
“We’ve spoken to Mr. Staikos’ family, his friends and acquaintances,” Khan said. “They’re not only struggling with the loss of their loved one, they cannot grasp why this would have happened.”
Khan said that it appears the killer did “intend to shoot” Staikos, but police have not determined whether they knew each other.
The surveillance video shows a silver or grey four-door Mercedes Benz parked on Yorkville Avenue west of Bay Street on Monday night.
Police earlier released a video that showed Staikos walking alongside another man on Yorkville Avenue when a man jumped out of the passenger side of a parked Mercedes, and then followed the two men to a place not in view of the camera. Seconds later, the man is seen running back to the Mercedes and the car then flees southbound on Bay Street.
Khan described the gunman as a black male with a slim-to-medium build who is approximately 5’10” tall, in his mid-20s and late 30s. He was wearing dark clothing.
Khan said he has no information on the driver of the vehicle.
Staikos’ death was one of five homicides due to gun violence in Toronto in the month of May. Shootings in the city so far this year are up 11 per cent over the same period in 2017.
Khan said police are “always are open to the possibility that there may be links” between homicides, but added that he does “not have any information to believe that (Staikos’ death) is connected to any other.”
Khan encouraged anyone with information to contact homicide detectives at 416-808-5300. Toronto police said in a press release that those who wish to offer tips anonymously can contact Crime Stoppers by calling 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, on Facebook, or by texting TOR and a message to CRIMES (274637).
With files from Jackie Dunham and CTV Toronto
