CRIME: Murdered youngster an 'average, good teenager'
Probe continues into murder of Mahamed Warsame, 16
Mahamed Adbi Warsame told his mom Saturday night he was going with friends to a movie theatre to see Iron Man. But the 16-year-old North York boy never returned home. He was found murdered at 2:16 p.m. Sunday in the stairwell of 25 Cougar Court, an apartment building near Eglinton Avenue and Markham Road in Scarborough.
"He didn't have any friends that we know of at the building or that area. That's not the area where he used to hang out," family friend Faisa Mahamud said.
"We don't know what happened. We need answers."
An autopsy found Warsame died of multiple blunt impact trauma.
On April 24, 22-year-old Ricardo Erik Kelly was stabbed to death in the stairwell of the same building.
Mahamud doesn't believe there's a connection between the two murders.
"(Warsame's) family doesn't know the other victim," she said.
Warsame's mother, Ayan Dahir, called police to report her son missing at 2 a.m. Sunday. Two detectives came to the family home about 24 hours later to get a description and photo of the teen. The detectives returned a short time later to break the news.
"The mother is not doing well. She doesn't sleep. She doesn't eat," Mahamud said. "She never imagined that she would bury her son. I just hope no other mother suffers like this."
Mahamud said the family doesn't know if Warsame ever made it to the movie theatre or which friends he was supposed to be with.
"We need those friends to come forward," she said. "We need help. Someone knows what happened."
Dahir's cousin Mohamed Rodal said Warsame would always called home if he was running late but had recently lost his cellphone.
"He was an average, good teenager. He liked to joke a lot," Rodal said. "He loved playing basketball. He took care of his brothers."
Warsame, a Grade 11 student at Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, lived with his mother and two younger brothers in an apartment on Biggin Court.
A funeral will be held 1 p.m. on Friday, May 9 at the Islamic Foundation of Toronto, 441 Nugget Ave.
"I want to know who was behind this and why. This was a 16-year-old kid. How can someone do such an ugly thing and destroy a human being?" Rodal said.
"This is a big loss for us. We can't bring him back, but we have to do something to make sure it doesn't happen to someone else."
Anyone with information on the murder is asked to call Det. Wayne Banks at 416-808-7411, Det. Terry Browne at 416-808-7403 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477).
