The families of two young men shot dead in Riverdale last month say the arrest of a suspect over the weekend has not brought them any closer to understanding why their loved ones were gunned down.
“There is absolutely no relief whatsoever,” Lindsey McNeil told the Star, one day after pc28¹ÙÍøpolice announced a 17-year-old youth is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the death of her son, Jeremy McNeil and his friend Quentin Caza.
The teen cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
“It’s definitely not justice but it’s a start,” Caza’s aunt, Siobhan Boyle, said on Monday.
Quentin, 18, and Jeremy, 20, were killed in an April 15 shooting on Bain Avenue, just west of Logan Avenue, shortly after 11 p.m. Witnesses said two masked suspects ran across the street and fired their guns at a vehicle registered to Jeremy’s mother. The shooters then fled on foot, towards Withrow Park.
Jeremy managed to get out of the car, witnesses recounted. Bystanders rushed to help him until an ambulance arrived. He died in hospital a few hours later. Quentin was pronounced dead at the scene.
Speaking to reporters in the aftermath of the shooting, police described the two suspects as male, wearing dark clothing and standing at five-foot-five and five-foot-eight, respectively. Asked on Sunday whether a second suspect remains outstanding, pc28¹ÙÍøpolice declined to comment.
Police investigate a double homicide in Riverdale last month.
Andrew Francis Wallace/pc28¹ÙÍøStarAside from the news of Sunday’s arrest, neither family has received a substantial update in the three weeks since their loved ones were killed, leaving them struggling to process the tragedy.
“We’re just in the dark right now, we don’t know what happened,†Boyle said. “What we do know is that we want justice.â€
Lindsey said she recognizes the investigation is still active, but doesn’t understand why police can’t share more about the outstanding suspects. She struggles with not knowing the identity of the youth charged in her son’s death, she says, and, if convicted, worries they will face softer sentences because of their age.
“Kids pick up guns and do not understand the consequences. For what? To be cool on the streets,” she said.
“This was senseless. Absolutely senseless.”
‘A happy, big-hearted kid’
Boyle wants the world to know that Quentin was “a happy, big hearted kid” — a “little jokester,” she told the Star, who could make an entire room erupt into laughter.
“Every time he walked into a room, it wouldn’t be long until everyone was laughing,†Boyle said in an interview the week after the shooting.
Quentin was incredibly close with his mother. They were “two peas in a pod,” says Boyle.
“She had him when she was only 19, so they’ve just been through it all together,†she said. “Now she’s lost her other half.â€
Quentin, who lived in East York, had just started a new job as a roofer and was waiting for his first pay cheque to land when he was killed.
“He just wanted to work, make money, travel,†Boyle said.
Quentin Caza, 18, was shot last month in Riverdale.
Handout from the Caza familyBoyle said she believed Quentin and Jeremy had become friends only about a month before the shooting. The family said they have no idea how the two met, why they travelled to Riverdale that evening or why they would have been targeted.
“This city — crime, youth violence — it’s out of control. How can guns be so available?†she said. “We strongly believe Quentin never should have been in that car.â€
‘He just wanted to live a happy, peaceful life’
Lindsey, Jeremy’s mother, is remembering him as the “best son you could ever ask for.” He was thoughtful, she said, bringing her a card and tulips every Mother’s Day and taking initiative with chores around the house.
Jeremy’s circle was small. He was a private person with few friends and strong relationships with his family. He went to the gym often and was working as a plumber, in his second-year of an apprenticeship program.
“He was the hardest worker. He just wanted to live a happy, peaceful life,” Lindsey said.
She laughs as she thinks about his favourite pastime — “smoking cigars, having a latte and listening to Spanish music” after a hard day’s work. His dream was to live in Colombia.
At home, it was clear Jeremy had an “unbreakable bond” with his 14-year-old sister. The two were finally at the age were they began doing things together, whether it was fast food runs to McDonald’s or listening to music.
“These people took away something that she just started to get,” Lindsey said, referring to the shooters.
His dogs, both Pocket Bully’s, Peanut and Biggie, were “his best friends,” she added. Since Jeremy’s death, Peanut no longer sleeps upstairs at night. She sleeps on the ground floor, waiting for him to come home.
Jeremy’s absence is something Lindsey herself cannot comprehend.
“Jeremy did not deserve this. I still expect him to walk through the door. I can’t move on,” she said.
In the days after his death, friends of Jeremy’s family organized a page to help with funeral costs, describing him as having a “quirky, one of a kind personality that could light up a room.”
He took pride in his job and brought “joy, warmth and humour wherever he went,” reads the fundraiser, which has raised nearly $15,000 as of Monday afternoon.
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