Homicide detectives are investigating an incident in Brampton in which the city’s mayor’s son was shot in the head and died a week later.
Justin Bernardo, 26, of Toronto, died Monday night after being hospitalized for a week in critical condition, a spokeswoman for Peel Regional Police told The Washington Post. Bernardo had been shot three times in the head the night of April 18, during an argument with other men at an apartment complex.
The suspect in the case remains at large, officials said, and officers are asking the public to help identify a man who is said to be related to Bernardo.
On April 18, Bernardo was found suffering from gunshot wounds inside the building. Peel police say they were called to the scene after a woman called 911 to report that she had gone to the 16-story building after hearing a woman’s screams.
“I was fortunate,” Andrea Laughlin, a woman who lives in the building, told the Toronto Star. “Fortunately, I came down when I did. I ran out and pushed the window glass up. It was dark and it was raining.”
Officers forced entry into Bernardo’s third-floor apartment, and found him in the shower with “multiple gunshot wounds,” police said. He was immediately taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Toronto Mayor John Tory called Bernardo’s death “a tragedy that all of us in this city feel.”
“I know that at this extremely difficult time for the family and friends of Justin, there will be thoughts and prayers across the city of Toronto for the peace and comfort that they will need at this time,” Tory said in a statement, The Washington Post reported.
Tory had not yet confirmed the relationship between Bernardo and the woman who had been pleading for his life, but said that he and the woman’s family had been in touch with the Bernardo family to “grieve the loss of a lovely young man and offer our continued support.”
Meanwhile, the Toronto Star reported, Bernardo’s father, Adrian Bernardo, criticized the behavior of people at the scene who attempted to dissuade him from going to the hospital.
“All I heard was telling my son ‘Don’t go. Don’t go,’” Adrian Bernardo told the Star on April 23. “He says ‘Dad, stop telling me not to go. If I want to go, go.’ He never went.”
He also denied reports that he had been stabbed during the incident, saying that the injuries he had received came from the doorbell ringing and from the walls.
“He was shot three times,” Adrian Bernardo said of his son. “He didn’t even die from the first shot. He died from the second shot, the second hit was at the back of his head.”