Loved ones remember Pabek Gany, a man fatally shot in Kitchener

Friends of Pabek Gany want him remembered for more than the way he died. CTV’s Colton Wiens has that story.

Friends and family are remembering the man killed in Waterloo Region’s only fatal shooting of 2025.

Pabek Gany, 32, was found with gunshot wounds in the Century Hill Drive area of Kitchener on Dec. 1.

“Pure shock and just unbelievable that somebody who stood for so much good would be taken away like that,” Tyler Murphy, a friend of Gany, told CTV News.

“Pabek was probably the hardest working person that I’ve ever known,” Murphy said. “He worked day and night to help provide for his family and provide for his kids. And to me, that’s the most important part of his memory. Just knowing that he was such an upstanding person - just incredibly loyal and always tried to do the right thing.”

When Waterloo Regional Police Service officers arrived on Century Hill Drive at the start of December, they found a white SUV that had crashed into a tree. The man inside, Gany, was pronounced dead at the crash site.

Police have not released any details about potential suspects or updates on the case, but they believe organized crime may have played a part.

“There’s a knee-jerk reaction when something says organized crime that a lot of people perceive that as, ‘Oh, this person must have been involved with something to cause this to happen.’ And I know absolutely that that was not the case,” Murphy said. “I think it’s just important for people to realize that this was a university graduate training to be a pilot who works 14-hour days to support his kids. So, it’s difficult to see that and know what conclusions people will jump to. But hard-working people who have done nothing wrong to anybody get targeted. It’s not something that is brought upon you. And I just think that that’s important for people to understand.”

As investigators try to put together the pieces, Murphy is left with only memories of Gany.

He said Gany immigrated to Canada with his family from South Sudan in the early 2000s and lived near Murphy in Kitchener. The two quickly became friends, bonding over a love for basketball. They attended Courtland Avenue School and Cameron Heights Secondary School together and stayed close as adults.

“He spent Thanksgiving at my house,” Murphy recalled. “It sucks because right before his passing, I was gonna call him to invite him to Christmas dinner. And then the next day, he was gone.”

Murphy said Gany was living in Windsor and came to Kitchener in early December to visit his mom and help fix her car. He doesn’t know why Gany would have been in the Century Hill area.

Gany was also a University of Waterloo Warrior, where he played football for four seasons. His former coach, Chris Bertoia, said Gany was the first person in his family to graduate university and paid for his own schooling.

After graduating, Bertoia said Pabek often came to practices with his kids and helped change Bertoia’s tires. Bertoia said he’s not surprised by the outpouring of love after Gany’s passing.

“I had a special relationship with Pabek. I could count on him as a grown man and he was one of those players that - he was hard not to love, you know?” Bertoia said. “Even once he was done playing here, I was always happy to see him, and I was always happy to see a text message from him. I was always happy to have a conversation with him. From my personal perspective, I’m going to miss him. And I love that young man. May God rest his soul.”

Gany leaves behind four children with another one expected soon. An online fundraiser has been made to help support his family.

“It’s a lot for them to have that absence now. He had a big community of South Sudanese family that it was really heartening after his passing, they all came together, and they were all at the house. So that was that was really nice to see,” Murphy said.

After the shooting, a vigil was held around the tree where Gany was found. Tributes were left behind to honour his life.

“It would be hard to get down the street because of how many people he interacted with. There were so many different ways he impacted the community. He would volunteer at the House of Friendship in downtown Kitchener. He would stop and give food to homeless people. He would go into a restaurant and make friends with all the waitresses. He was just such a shining light of a person,” Murphy said.

A funeral for Gany is scheduled for this weekend.

Police are asking anyone with information about the investigation to contact them.

“If anybody knows anything behind who perpetrated this act, if they could come forward, it would help so much to making sure this doesn’t happen to a person like this again,” Murphy implored.