Toronto murder suspect arrested in B.C. while riding bike without a helmet

Toronto police say they will be going to B.C. this week to pick up a murder suspect who was arrested in Nanaimo on Friday while riding a bicycle without a helmet.

Homicide Det.-Sgt. Tim Gallant, of the Toronto Police Service, confirmed on Tuesday that the RCMP in B.C. have arrested Kyle Antonio Dias, 19, in connection with the Feb. 13 shooting death of Tesfa Welsh-Hope, 27.

Both the accused and victim are from Toronto.

In a news release on Tuesday, the RCMP said Dias is to return to Toronto on Wednesday. He is currently being held a Vancouver Island remand centre in Victoria.

The RCMP said bike unit officers were on patrol in Barsby Park in Nanaimo when they stopped a man riding a mountain bike without a helmet on Friday at 1:30 p.m. Officers noticed that the bike he was riding looked like one recently reported stolen.

After a check of the bike's serial number, police confirmed it was stolen and officers arrested the man for possession of stolen property.

The man gave several different names to police when he was asked to identify himself and he produced what appeared to be a fake Ontario driver's licence.

Police confirmed his identity when the man was taken to the RCMP's Nanaimo detachment. Dias is wanted for second degree murder for the killing in Toronto's Rexdale neighbourhood. It is Toronto's eighth homicide of the year.

The RCMP says "it's not often" that its officers arrest someone for riding a stolen bike without a helmet and that person turns out to be a murder suspect in another jurisdiction.

Welsh-Hope died in hospital after he was shot at 21 Bergamot Avenue, in the Islington Avenue and Rexdale Boulevard area, shortly before 11 p.m. on Feb. 13.

He had been found lying on the ground outside a building, suffering from gunshot wounds.

"The bike helmet charge was not pursued by the arresting officers," the RCMP said in the release. "However, the stolen bike was returned to its lawful owner."