Funeral held for Eaton Centre shooting victim

Family and friends gathered at a Toronto mosque on Tuesday to pay their final respectsto Ahmed Hassan, the man who diedafter being shot in the Eaton Centre last Saturday.

The 25-year-old is believed to have ties to the same gang as his alleged killer, Christopher Husbands, 23, of Toronto.

Husbands,Hassan anda 23-year-old man who was wounded were all part of the same gang, police say, although they haven't provided any more specifics.

Despite the gang affiliations, police don't believe the shooting was gang-motivated; rather, "personal aspects" were at play, according to Det. Sgt. Brian Borg.

The imam who delivered the eulogy, Said Rageah, said the funeral is one of more than 30 that he has presided over in the past two years for young Somali men who've died violently in Toronto and Fort McMurray, Alta.

He said many of the problems begin at home.

"The parents do know, but they arehopeless; they cannot do anything," he saidoutside the mosque."A lot of parents, they cannot communicate with their kids and thekids cannot communicate with their parents. And the parents do not understand the system, how things work, they don't understandthe gangsters' mind, all that."

Rageah also said education is a problem. "All of that needs to be addressed," he said. "It's not a problem that can addressed in one day or one minute."

Hassan's father flew in from Edmonton, butdid not speak to the media.

Hassan's cousin Khadija Abdi, speaking after the service in theRexdaleand Martin Grove area,accused police and the media of painting a picture that said, "it is okay Ahmed is killed, but the Canadian society is safe, the Eaton Centre is safe, the Canadians [are safe], he was a criminal, he deserved to die."

Husbands, 23, is charged with one count of first-degree murder and six countsof attempted murder.

His father would not talk to CBC News on camera, only saying that Husbands was a good kid who fell in with the wrong crowd.