Police release video of shooting suspect in Windsor hotel homicide investigation

Warning graphic: Windsor hotel shooting suspect Surveillance video of a fatal shooting suspect at Windsor hotel. (Source: Windsor police)

Windsor police are releasing new video of a suspect wanted in a fatal shooting at a hotel in Windsor.

Warning: contains graphic content.

Officers responded to a report of shots fired at the Lexington hotel at 2130 Division Road around 12:45 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021.

Major Crime Staff Sergeant Dave Tennent says the new video being released from the scene, shows a suspect approach the victim at the hotel. CTV News is not showing the full video due to the graphic nature.

“It shows our victim in the west stairwell of the Lexington Hotel,” says Tennent. “It looks like he’s meeting someone that he possibly trusts and then he’s confronted by the suspect, who immediately engages him, and shoots him, and unfortunately kills him.”Police say when officers arrived, they found a man with gunshot wounds. The victim was transported to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Investigators have identified the victim as 24-year-old Zachary Cust from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

“We’re still trying to figure out why he was here,” says Tennent. “We’ve been working very closely with police in the Toronto area.”

Through investigation, police say they determined that a male suspect ran northbound on Byng Road and entered an awaiting dark-coloured SUV. The suspect vehicle fled the area northbound from the 3900 block of Byng Road.

“We also have video footage of a vehicle that our suspect comes into the scene from and goes back into the vehicle after the shooting.

Investigators are still looking for more information on the suspect.

“We believe that the victim and the suspect knew each other and we know that our victim is from the Toronto area,”says Tennent. “We believe that our victim does not have any ties to the Windsor area, so our investigative assumption is that our suspect is from the GTA area.”

The Major Crime Unit is actively investigating the incident and is working with Crime Stoppers to seek information on the suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Major Crime Unit at 519-255-6700 ext. 4830, ext. 4000 (after hours), or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 519-258-8477 (TIPS) or online at www.catchcrooks.com.