The suspect charged with first-degree murder in a shooting in an underground parking garage in Scarborough lived in the same apartment building as the victim, CTV News has learned.
Toronto police were called to the area of Sheppard Avenue East and Birchmount Road around 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 30 for reports of a shooting.
When officers arrived, they found a man with a gunshot wound, police said. Despite rescue efforts, the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
He was later identified as 34-year-old Gars-Ara Kurjakian. He is the city’s 70th homicide victim of 2022.
Family friends told CTV News Toronto that Kurjakian’s five-year-old daughter was present during the shooting as he took off her winter boots before he was shot.
Police announced Friday that Devret Clark, 37, of Toronto, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting.
Sarkis Yildirim is a resident of the building where Kurjakian lived and says he knows the family well. He told CTV News Toronto that Clark lived in the block next door before moving out about a year and a half ago.
“[Clarke] he was very rude to everyone in the building,” Yildirim said. “He didn’t like anyone in the building.”
Yildirim says he remembers an argument between Kurjakian and Clark sometime before Clark moved out. Yildirim said Kurjakian’s wife and daughter were in their apartment, which is directly above Clark’s, and that Clark could hear them making noise.
“I guess he couldn’t stand the noises and was knocking on the door very loudly. [Kourjakian’s] woman she opened the door [and] he started shouting and swearing and she got really scared,” he explained.
“When [Kourjakian] he came home he found out and i guess he came down and they had a fight. I remember that.”
Residents of the apartment building called Kuryakian a good neighbor and a “friendly guy,” while others said Clark scared them at times, claiming there were “a bunch of red flags” when it came to his aggressive behavior.
CTV News Toronto spoke with Clark’s lawyer, but he declined to comment at this time. He is due back in court on January 20.
— With files from Alison Hurst of CTV News Toronto
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