Hani Afrah couldn’t believe it when she heard gunshots outside her door.
It had been years since a fatal shooting had punctured the revitalized neighbourhood in the city’s downtown east.
Outside, the longtime Regent Park resident found a woman she recognized as the mother of a neighbouring family emerge from her home on Arnold Avenue and chase after her sons, screaming: “Help! Call 9-1-1!”
One day after a string of gunfire left two dead in broad daylight and a downtown community reeling, police investigators, neighbours and witnesses like Afrah are still trying to come to terms with what happened.
On Wednesday, police announced the arrest of 23-year-old Benedict Johnson Kongolo, saying he was responsible for killing two family members and injuring another.
But what motivated the violence is unclear; investigators say they’re looking at all possibilities.
Speaking to a reporter on Wednesday, Afrah recalled the woman was bleeding from the back of her head; she cried for Afrah to grab her one-year-old granddaughter who was still inside the house.
At that moment, Afrah didn’t know what had happened.
“I was scared for my life (because) what if someone is in the house with a gun?” she said. “But at the same time, I saw the baby and I can’t just leave her there.”
She brought the girl inside her own townhome, safe with her family, before taking off after her injured neighbour. She heard more gunshots in the distance — maybe 10 minutes had passed since the first.
She caught up with the woman towards Dundas Street, near Regent Street. Laying on the ground, she saw a man she recognized as the woman’s son, “blood everywhere.”
Regent Park had recently celebrated having gone almost two years without gun-related deaths.
Kongolo has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder; according to court records, the victims of the shooting are Ngoyi Kongolo and Didier Kongolo.
On Wednesday morning, Benedict Kongolo appeared briefly in a North York courtroom by video from the Toronto police 51 Division station.
He entered the video room wearing white coveralls provided by the division. Swaying from foot to foot, breathing heavily at times and staring wide-eyed towards the floor, Kongolo did not respond when a justice of the peace asked him to identify himself for the court.
“He’s been like this with us this morning,” an officer off-screen told the court.
The court ordered he not communicate with one named person and that he be given medical attention.
He will appear again next week and will remain in custody until then.
According to a source, speaking confidentially to discuss the case, Kongolo also went by the name JoEazy. On music streaming sites, recordings by JoEazy are credited to Johnson Kongolo, bearing artwork referencing Regent Park.
JoEazy’s most recent music video, posted to YouTube eight months ago, garnered 10,000 views. His other videos use as backdrops Regent Park’s public housing, open spaces and distinctive brick low-rises with dark green trim.
According to a police press release, officers were called to the area of Dundas Street East and Parliament Street just before 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
One man was pronounced dead at the scene, the release said, while a second man and a woman were transported to hospital. The second man died in hospital.
The woman has “non-life-threatening injuries,” the release said.
Police did not separately identify the victims in their Wednesday news release, saying only that they are related to the accused.
The incident follows a string of recent fatal shootings in the city.
Among them are the attacks on two people who were indiscriminately targeted in less than 24 hours near the same bus stop in North York’s Driftwood neighbourhood.
Adu Boakye, a 39-year-old father of four who had recently moved from Ghana, was killed, while a 16-year-old boy was shot in the face, but survived.
The shooting sparked citywide outrage after police said both victims were “completely and utterly innocent,” and had no connections to each other or to the suspects, who remain at large.
Asked about a flood of online posts speculating about a link between Tuesday’s shooting and earlier acts of violence, Acting Insp. Terry Browne, the head of the Toronto police Homicide Squad, said investigators are “aware of social media posts … and are of course considering all info received as part of the continuing investigation.”
On Tuesday, Walied Khogali Ali with the Regent Park Neighbourhood Association told reporters the family is known to his association through their Ramadan meals program.
“I want this violence to end,” he said, calling on the city to invest in critical resources for his community, including mental health interventions.
On Wednesday, a forensics unit worked at the scene as neighbours recovered from the violence.
Janice Smith, a resident in the area who was on her way to a grocery when she saw the police presence, said she’s in shock and worries about how this incident will paint the neighbourhood.
“Especially in broad daylight … holy crap, what the hell? It’s March break; young kids play on the street.”
Afrah said she had few personal interactions with the family over the years, but the mother and father were “good people” who “always said ‘Hi’ or ‘Good morning.’”
“I always saw the dad smiling.”
Afrah said she moved to Toronto 29 years ago to escape the Somali civil war. Tuesday’s incident brought back trauma she said she’s not ready to talk about.
“Honestly, I’m scared. I don’t know. It’s very difficult to see this happening in the community. It’s just too much,” she said.
“I moved here for a good future, a better country.”
With files from Betsy Powell
