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Teenager shot, killed at Mississauga lounge remembered as kind boy, talented athlete

Teenager shot, killed at Mississauga lounge remembered as kind boy, talented athlete

A teenage boy shot and killed at a Mississauga lounge early Sunday morning was an avid basketball player in his final year of high school.

Officers from 21 Division of Peel Regional Police were called to the Habibi Lounge near Airport Road and Derry Road East shortly after 1 a.m. by reports of several men fighting in the parking lot — throwing and hitting each other with bottles.

When they arrived they found the victim, later identified as 17-year-old Sharmarke Farah of Toronto, in the parking lot. He had been shot, was rushed to hospital but later died.

"I was so sad. I was shaken," the boy's father Mohamed Farah Qambi Adan said, describing the moment he learned of Sharmarke's death.

"I love my son."

Adan described Sharmarke as a nice boy, a good listener, a talented basketball player and member of the Mississauga Monarchs team. He leaves behind two sisters and two brothers.

Peel police brought in buses to contain and question a considerable number of witnesses and club-goers.

Abdifatah Warsame, director of community development and outreach at the Centre for Youth, an after-school program of which Shamarke was a member, appealed for any witnesses to come forward.

Warsame is Adan's second cousin and knew the boy personally.

"The minute I found out, my heart sunk. My heart was broken," Warsame told CBC News. "He was so dear to me and so close to me."

Warsame said Shamarke, whom he call his nephew, had "aspirations."

"He wanted to become somebody," Warsame said.

The boy's father told CBC News that Shamarke was very smart and may have gone on to study law.

Condolences for the teen began pouring out on social media, including one from Sharmarke's coach in school.

Later in the night Peel police, again from 21 Division, were called to a similar scene where a man was found shot and seriously injured in the parking lot of a lounge in Brampton. That victim also later died.

Meanwhile, York Regional Police were called to a fatal stabbing in a parking lot in Vaughan.