Police ID shooting victim found in Etobicoke

Toronto police identified 25-year-old Abdulle Elmi on Friday as the man found shot dead in an affluent part of Etobicoke this week, as friends mourned the loss of the university student who they described as cheerful and hard-working.

Elmi's body was discovered in the early hours Thursday on Meadowbank Road, near Highway 427 and Burnhamthorpe Road. He had multiple gunshot wounds to historso and was not wearing any shirt or shoes.Police say he had no connection to the neighbourhood where he was found.

According toinvestigators, Elmi lived in the area of Yonge and College streetsand was last seen there alive and fully clothed around 3 a.m., roughlyan hour before his body was discovered.

Abdifatah Warsame met and befriended Elmi four years ago. The two bonded right away, Warsame said.

'He had it going on. He had everything. He had the intelligence, he had the big smile, he was very outspoken, he was into education' Abdifatah Warsame

"He had it going on. He had everything. He had the intelligence, he had the big smile, he was very outspoken, he was into education," he said, adding that Elmi workedin the College and Yonge Streets area to put himself through school.

Warsame said his friend was "upbeat" and known as a "very positive thinker" who valued his education.

"I hang out with him, I ate with him, we went to the mosque and I prayed with him. He was your typical good, young person."

A source in Toronto's Somali communitytold CBC Newsthat Elmiwas related to Ahmed Hassan,a Somali-Canadian who died duringlast month's shooting at the Eaton Centre, and that both men were connected to the same address near Alexandra Park. The source also saidElmi was a hard-workingperson who hadn't been in any trouble with the law.

A separate policesource told CBC News detectives have no reason to believe Elmi has any gang connections.

Members of the Somali-Canadiancommunity are meetingin Etobicoke on Sundayto discuss the killing and the murders oftwo other young men since early June.

Dark-coloured vehicle seen leaving area

On Thursday, Det. Sgt. Pauline Gray told reporters that witnesses described hearing shots just after 4 a.m. and then saw a dark-coloured vehicle leaving the area.

Elmiwas pronounced dead at the scene.

Police have not released any names or descriptions of suspects. They say they've shown a photograph to family members in order to further the investigation, but it is not a photograph of a suspect.

Policeare asking anyone who knows anything about Elmi's death to come forwardthey have also released a YouTube video asking for information.

The shooting wasthe 26th homicide in Toronto this year. Sixteen of the victims died after being shot.

Warsame said he wants Elmi's family to have some closure.

"This is senseless, [an] act of evil the way he died," he said.