'An innocent life was taken': Hundreds gather to remember teen killed in Mississauga shooting
Just weeks into his final year of high school, Jonathan Davis was learning the tricks of the electrical trade from his father, hoping to one day follow in his footsteps.
Instead, the 17-year-old's life was cut short in what police are calling a "brazen" act of violence when gunfire erupted last Saturday night outside an apartment complex in Mississauga, Ont.
"Jonathan was my right hand," said his father, Linton Davis, at a vigil held nearly one week after the teen was killed. "That's why I miss him so much."
"I would like to be even a little like him in some of his ways," the teen's father said, adding he named his son after a figure in the Bible.
On a warm Friday evening at a community centre near the apartment complex where Davis died in what police have called a hail of bullets, more than 200 people gathered to remember a boy they say was quiet, sweet, loved video games, and "wanted to be someone in life," as family friend Selma Alincy put it.
No arrests so far
Emergency crews were called to the apartment around 6:15 p.m. last Saturday, after shots rang out at a parkette on Darcel Avenue near Morning Star Drive and Goreway Drive. Families had been lined up at an ice cream truck when at least seven people, some armed with semi-automatic weapons, fired more than 100 bullets.
Davis, said police, was an innocent bystander.
He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Nearly seven days on, police have yet to make any arrests. The bullets also injured five others, including a 13-year-old girl; a 16-year-old boy; two 17-year-old boys; and a woman in her 50s.
Alincy, a friend of Davis's mother for more than 20 years, said the teen was a "respectable young man," always there to help his father, who has been losing his eyesight.
For Davis's cousin, Nelson James, the turnout Friday was a testament to how much Jonathan meant to his family, friends and community.
'No more mothers crying'
James told CBC News he grew up in the Jane and Finch area and saw one of his close friends die a few years ago.
"I never would have thought that it would have struck so close to him, to be my little cousin," he said. "I'm still in disbelief."
James also pleaded for an end to gun violence.
"My uncle is mourning, my auntie is mourning ... We don't want no more fathers crying, no more mothers crying, I can't take this anymore," he said choking back tears.
Police say the intended targets of the shooting were about to film a rap video and believe the attack was motivated by another video filmed in the same area, released a week earlier.
Alincy previously told CBC News that Davis was on his way home to change his shoes when the gunfire erupted. His mother rushed to his side, trying to tend to his bullet wound.
Pleas for information
Joshua Twa, who said he spent almost every day with Davis, said the two planned to hang out together the next day.
"He was my best friend ... I never thought something like this would happen," he said.
"Now I look in the chair that he always sat and it's just sad," he said, his voice trailing off. "I'm going to be grieving for a while."
The family is now pleading for anyone with information to come forward.
"If anyone has any information on what transpired that day, please if you don't want to tell it yourself, tell someone else for them to relay the message to police," said Alincy.
"Or call Crime Stoppers. You can be anonymous, just speak up because a life, an innocent life was taken way too soon."
