Mourners gathered Wednesday to say goodbye to Safiullah “Safi” Khosrawi at a mosque in Scarborough located just steps away from where the innocent 15-year-old was gunned down in broad daylight earlier this week.
Friends and family leaving the funeral service at Masjid al Jannah on Ellesmere Rd., just east of Markham Rd., could look across the street and see the Canadian flag flying at half-mast in front of Woburn Collegiate Institute — the high school where the slain boy was a Grade 10 student.
“His parents came to Canada from Afghanistan so their four sons would be safe and have a chance for a better life, now one of their boys is gone,” Zakia Alam said Wednesday in front of Masjid al Jannah, explaining she knows the “devastated” family from attending the mosque.
“All four sons are good boys,” she said. “This should never have happened.”
Alam also urged politicians to stop talking about the shootings plaguing Toronto, as well as other Canadian cities, and start doing something to put an end to the gun violence.
Toronto Police have said Khosrawi was walking from school to his family’s home — a townhouse complex about 500 metres away — when tragedy struck Monday.
The teen was nearing his home when gunfire erupted around 3:10 p.m. and he was fatally shot at Markham and Ellesmere.
A 15-year-old boy, who can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was arrested within 20 minutes of the deadly shooting and charged with second-degree murder.
At a news conference Tuesday, Det.-Sgt. Andy Singh said the accused teen also attended Woburn Collegiate and it’s believed he has gang ties.
He said Khosrawi — the city’s fourth murder victim of the year — was not known to police and does not appear to have known the accused teen prior to the shooting.
“The victim was completely innocent,” Singh said.
A GoFundMe page — set up to help the victim’s grief-stricken family — describes Khosrawi as a “quiet, shy, good kid” who minded his own business and “never got into any trouble.”
“To have lost Safi is heartbreaking — it has come as such a shock to us all,” the GoFundMe states.
Arthur Matheson, one of the many who have posted condolence messages on the GoFundMe page, says he taught Khosrawi in two classes and the teen was a “wonderful young man” who was “always happy.”
Another message, posted by Rifat Baig, states the boy’s death is “really sad.”
“It’s unfair that he had to pay with his life for someone else’s mistake,” Baig writes. “Kids should not have access to guns.”
Any witnesses who have not yet spoken to police are urged to call investigators at 416-808-7400.
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