$25K reward for suspect info in Ontario homicide at Pickering casino

Durham Regional Police are offering a $25,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in a 2023 homicide case.

Police said during the early hours on Oct 9, 2023, a 34-year-old security guard was shot and killed at the Pickering Casino Resort.

Michael Ferdinand was rushed to hospital with critical injuries from gunshot wounds. He later died at a Toronto-area trauma centre.

Police at the time said the shooting wasn’t believed to have been targeted, and that Ferdinand was “doing his job when he was involved with these individuals who in turn shot and killed him.”

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Police have identified a 20-year-old man wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for second-degree murder. He was 17 years old at the time of the fatal shooting, police said.

Investigators said he has ties to the Driftwood area, located in the Jane Street and Finch Avenue West area of Toronto.

The suspect is described as about 20 years old, five feet eight inches tall and approximately 110 pounds. He has a tattoo on his left elbow with the word “Chantel.” Police also said he goes by the nickname “baby2.”

Police are urging the suspect to turn himself in and issued a reminder that anyone who is found to be assisting him to evade police is guilty under the Criminal Code and will be prosecuted.

A reward of $25,000 is being offered for any information that leads to his arrest.

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