Two men sentenced to life in prison for deadly 2018 Richmond Hill shooting

Police say two men have been sentenced to life in prison for their part in a 2018 Richmond Hill Shooting that left a 33-year-old man dead.

In a news release issued Thursday, York Regional Police announced that Mohamed El-Zahawi, 36, of Toronto and Cory Chung, 23, of Kitchener, had both been found guilty of first-degree murder on Dec. 11.

Their convictions stem from a Christmas Eve shooting six years ago on Barnwood drive, a residential street near Bayview Avenue and Stouffville Road.

Police said the victim, Soheil Rafipour, was getting into a car at around 9:30 p.m. that evening when a suspect vehicle approached and shots were fired.

Officers arrived on scene to find Rafipour suffering from several gunshot wounds, police said. He was transported to hospital where he later died.

Few details were released about the shooting at the time, but police said they were not treating it as a random incident.

Two years later, police said, seven people were charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting.

At least two of those suspects, El-Zahawi and Abdelaziz Ibrahim, 22, of Hamilton, had connections to the tow truck industry, police said in March of 2020.

Ibrahim died in custody while awaiting trial, police said.

In early 2023, Thomas Sliwinski, 37, of Bradford, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a 12-year sentence.

The charges against two of the accused were stayed and a third suspect was discharged.

El-Zahawi and Chung’s automatic life sentences were handed down by Justice Joseph Di Luca on Jan. 12 and come with no chance of parole for 25 years.