Police have released new details about the deadly shooting of a father of four during a home invasion in Vaughan over the weekend.
The incident occurred at around 1 a.m. on Aug. 31 at a home near Andreeta Drive and Barons Street, in the Kleinberg area.
At a news conference on Wednesday, police revealed that at least three male suspects forced their way into the home through a rear door and then shot the victim after he “confronted” them inside the residence.
Police say that the suspects subsequently took phones that belonged to three different family members and fled the scene in a dark-coloured SUV.
Two of the phones were later found discarded nearby.
The victim, previously identified by police as 46-year-old Abdul Aleem Farooqi, was pronounced deceased at the scene.
“At this time, it is believed the house was specifically targeted for a robbery. We are still looking into any and all motives behind the robbery but currently we believe this to be based on monetary gain only,” Insp. Paolo Fiore said during Wednesday’s news conference. “Mr. Farooqi was not in any way involved in criminal activities. By all accounts and from speaking with members of the community, Mr. Farooqi was well respected, a great family man and loved by his community.”
Fiore refused to answer questions about what the suspects may have been after, citing a need to “protect the integrity” of an “ongoing investigation.”
He said that a second home invasion involving three suspects, one of whom was also armed with a firearm, did take place less than 90 minutes later at an address less than one kilometre away.
Two adults and two children were inside that home at the time, though no physical injuries were reported and the suspect fled the scene after the security alarm was triggered.
The two incidents have not been formally linked at this point but Fiore said that police are reviewing the incidents for “possible connections.”
Family members were home at time
Premier Doug Ford spoke out about the “heart-wrenching” Vaughan home invasion during a news conference on Tuesday, telling reporters that the suspects shot Farooqi “right in front of his kids.”
During Wednesday’s news conference, Fiore confirmed to reporters that “there were family members present at the time of the shooting” but he did not provide further details.
He said that Farooqi lived in the home with his wife and four children who ranged in age from four to 17.
“Witness statements from family members corroborated the sequence of events and confirmed the suspects’ actions inside the home,” he said.
Police did not provide any further details about the interaction between Farooqi and the suspects, only saying that he was shot after he “confronted” them inside the house.
Police also confirmed that a 911 call was made from inside the house.
“In the unlikely event that you find yourself the victim of a home invasion we are urging citizens not to take matters into their own hands,” York Region Police Chief MacSween told reporters at the outset of the news conference, which also included updates about a number of other recent violent incidents. “While we don’t want homeowners to feel powerless we urge you to call 911 and do everything you can to keep yourself and loves one safe until police arrive. This could mean locking yourself in a room away from the perpetrators, hiding, fleeing the home but don’t engage unless absolutely necessary.”
Farooqi remembered as ‘hero’
Farooqi operated a furnace and duct cleaning business in Mississauga and was well regarded in the community, police said.
On Wednesday morning, Farooqi’s brother Naeem spoke at a subsequent news conference alongside Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca and said that Aleem “died the way he lived” as a “hero.”
“My brother was a very good man, a hero who died protecting his family. That is a man. That is a person who actually believes in family comes first and he did whatever he could and you know, three cowards came in and changed everything for our family that night,” he said.
Naeem Farooqi went on to say that a firearm was pointed at his brother’s children and that that he did what any good father would.
“I think Aleem died a hero, he died saving his family, he saw a situation where his children, his daughters were pointed with a gun and it is just devastating. I don’t know what he could have done differently.”