Kartik Vasudev who came to Canada 3 months ago was brutally shot dead at Toronto’s Subway station
The random attacks on international students from India are happening at alarming numbers across Canada. In one more tragic attack, another international student from India succumbed to his injuries after he sustained multiple gun shots at a Toronto Subway station. The victim was identified by Toronto police as 21 year old Kartik Vasudev.
Vasudev’s news comes only a month after an Indian student working as security guard at UBC Kelowna’s campus was attacked.
On Thursday, April 7, 2022, at approximately 5 p.m., Toronto police responded to a radio call at Sherbourne TTC Subway station for a shooting.It was reported thata man had been shot at the Glen Road entrance of Sherbourne Subway Station. He received medical attention by an off-duty paramedic.
The police informed that Vasudev had sustained multiple gun shot wounds and was taken to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. Investigators allege that the suspect discharged a handgun striking the victim multiple times before fleeing the scene. Later on, the police informed that the same suspect killed another person the next day.
“These murders are believed to be random attacks and the victims were not known to the accused or each other,” the police informed.
Toronto police was able to arrest the suspect with in couple of days. Chief of Police James Ramer informed that 39-year-old Richard Jonathan Edwin was arrested. The same suspect also approached the second victim, 35-year-old Elijah Eleazar Mahepath who was walking westbound on the north side of Dundas Street East near George Street. The accused discharged multiple rounds striking the victim. Again, he fled the scene on foot.
Investigators are working to establish the full motive behind the attacks and these remain active investigations.“While random attacks like these are generally rare, there is no information at this time to suggest that these cases – with the exception of the Sherbourne Street and Dundas Street shootings for which Mr. Edwin has been charged – are connected. There is also no information to suggest these attacks are anything but random acts of violence,” said Chief of Police James Ramer.
Edwinwas taken into custody on the evening of Sunday, April 10, 2022 without incident.He has been charged with two counts of First Degree Murder.
“We are shocked & distressed at the unfortunate killing of Indian student Kartik Vasudev in a shooting incident in Toronto yesterday,” the Consulate General of India wrote in a statement posted on Twitter on Friday.
“We are in touch with the family and will provide all possible assistance in the early repatriation of mortal remains,” it said.
According to media reports Vasudev was a resident of Ghaziabad near Delhi. It was just three months ago that he left for Canada to pursue his dream of getting higher education and work in digital marketing.But fate had other plans.
Kartik’s father Jitesh Vasudev and mother Pooja remembered how their child had charted out his journey to Canada – something he had been planning and researching since clearing his class 10.
Kartik had left for Canada this year to pursue higher education. “He had a lot of dreams and used to say he would go to Canada to fulfil all dreams,” his mother Pooja told PTI at their home.
Kartik had enrolled at the Seneca College in Toronto and his offline classes were yet to begin. He had been studying online till now, she said.
“Right after completing Class 10, he shared with us that he wanted to go to Canada. He was a good student. He scored very good marks in classes 10 and 12, and even during graduation from Delhi,” Jitesh Vasudev, told PTI.
Seneca College said Kartik was enrolled in its marketing management programme.
“The Seneca community is saddened to hear of the tragic death of Kartik Vasudev, a first-semester Marketing Management student,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“Our thoughts are with his family, friends and classmates. Counselling support is being made available to students and employees.
Police had said the suspect in the shooting was a Black male standing five-foot-six to five-foot-seven inches tall with a medium build. This was city’s 19th murder of the year.
