Murder suspect arrested during Toronto drug raids

Toronto police are searching for 22-year-old Conrad Grizzle who is wanted in a 2014 homicide.

A suspect wanted in connection with a Toronto murder was arrested as part of a drug trafficking investigation in southern Ontario.

Police said 22-year-old Conrad Grizzle was among nine people arrested during raids in Toronto, Barrie, Innisfil and Utopia on Wednesday morning.

Investigators said they also seized weapons, cash and a large quantity of drugs during the Wednesday raids. The value of the drugs seized is estimated at approximately $1.1 million.

Grizzle was not identified as part of the alleged drug trafficking ring that officers were investigating, Toronto Police Insp. Howie Page said at a news conference Thursday. Page said police only realized the man's true identity once he was in custody for drug-related offences.

Page said Grizzle had lied about his name through the investigation, but that "good police work" revealed the man's true identity.

Grizzle's arrest warrant was issued in June, 2014, a month after a 20-year-old man was fatally wounded in Toronto's east-end.

Douglas Parker and two of his friends were shot after getting out of a cab at 66 Walpole Ave., in the Gerrard Street and Greenwood Avenue area, on May 24, 2014.

Parker died at the scene, while his friends received non-life-threatening injuries.

Earlier this year, police swarmed the area of the shooting when they recovered a firearm believed to be connected to the suspect. Officers set up a perimeter in the area, but Grizzle remained at large and the search was called off.

On Thursday, police said he has been charged with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. He is also facing four drug and gun-related charges, officers said.