A man accused of gunning down a soccer player in a brazen, targeted shooting outside a Winnipeg soccer complex has been arrested in British Columbia—more than two years later. Tresor Horimbere, 24, was located and arrested in Langley, B.C., a city just outside Vancouver, on July 30. Manitoba’s Integrated Violent Offender Apprehension Unit travelled to Langley on Monday, arrested Horimbere and brought him back to Winnipeg, according to a news release from the Winnipeg Police Service. He has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Mohamed Yusuf Abdullahi, 22, who was fatally shot in the parking lot of the Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex on Waverley Street on July 13, 2024. Police said they worked closely with the RCMP’s Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit in B.C. to track him down. Investigators had previously said they believed Horimbere was travelling throughout the country to avoid arrest. Horimbere was named the fourth most wanted fugitive in Canada last fall by the Bolo Program, a national public safety initiative aimed at helping locate the country’s most wanted individuals. The program, a non-profit based in Montreal, put up billboards on Portage Avenue featuring Horimbere’s face and name, along with the fact he was wanted for murder and a request for tips on his whereabouts. Max Langlois, the program’s executive director, previously told CTV News that of the hundreds of billboards the organization has put up since it was founded in 2018, this was the first tied to a Winnipeg police case. The Bolo Program also offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to Horimbere’s arrest. CTV News has reached out to the Bolo Program to ask whether the reward was paid out and is awaiting a response. Abdullahi was shot after finishing a round of games in the Canada African Cup of Nations, a non-profit soccer initiative launched in 2019 to help unite communities. He was taken to hospital, where he died of his injuries. A memorial service held that month revealed Abdullahi was born in Somalia and fled to a refugee camp in Ethiopia during the civil war before moving to Canada in 2014. “He was deeply devoted to his family, his community,” one of Abdullahi’s teammates told CTV News at the time of the memorial service. Winnipeg police previously said they believe the shooting was targeted. On Tuesday, a police spokesperson declined to comment on Horimbere’s relationship to Abdullahi, citing concerns it could affect the integrity of the investigation. In February, Norbert Kipala, 27, was arrested in connection with the shooting while in custody at the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre in Ontario on an unrelated matter. Horimbere remains in custody. The charge against him has not been proven in court.
