"We were just playing some pool but it seemed like a pretty relaxed environment to me," said the man, who did not want his name used. Saturday before the shooting, said the place was busy with almost every pool table taken up and lots of people in the lounge area. One man who was at the pool hall, but left around 1 a.m. Police said Coco Bongo was closed at the time of the shooting. Thom said police are aware of other violent incidents in the area, but there is no evidence any are related to the homicide.Īccording to its website, the pool hall is open until 2 a.m. Last week Samson Aristor was convicted of second-degree murder in Reald Vercani's death. The building is also home to the Coco Bongo Lounge, which also uses the name Tonic on signs, where a 33-year-old Toronto man was fatally stabbed in 2017.
There was a shooting at the pool hall in February that sent a man to hospital with life-threatening injuries. On nearby residential streets several people who spoke with The Spectator said they didn't know what happened, but were not surprised to learn of another violent incident at the business. Police had cleared the scene by Saturday night. On Saturday a large stretch of sidewalk in front of the pool hall was taped off from Queen Street North to Ray Street North, along with the alleyway behind the strip mall.ĭebris and a yellow tarp were lying on the sidewalk outside Boulevard Billiard's front door. T hey released images of two men they were looking to speak with who police said were there and are believed to have been with the group. The argument moved outside and this is when police allege the victim was shot.ĭetectives spent Saturday combing through surveillance video and tracking down witnesses who were there at the time of the shooting.
"We don't have a fulsome account of what the argument was about," he said. Piecing together witness statements and surveillance video it appeared the victim and the suspects were talking, but at some point they also appeared to be arguing. They told police they only knew the victim by a nickname, Thom said. Police have spoken with some of the people in that group, who were friends of the victim. The two suspects were known to the victim and were with the group at the pool hall, but the nature of their relationship is not clear. Police would not say what he was doing outside. He had been there at least an hour and was described as being in and out of the building. Junedi-Mohamed had been in the pool hall with a group of about half a dozen people that night, Thom said. Police are also looking for a white four-door sedan that may have been a rental car, seen fleeing from the scene. The second suspect is described as a darker skinned black male, who was shorter than the first suspect, and wearing dark clothing. The first suspect is described as a lighter skinned black male, wearing darker clothing. Investigators are "looking at all possibilities," Thom said.ĭetectives spoke with a number of witnesses at the scene and are looking for two suspects seen arguing with the victim before the shooting.
Hamilton police are investigating the possibility that illegal drugs are tied to Saturday's fatal shooting. at Queen Street North and York Boulevard, but no one was hurt. In that incident, shots rang out shortly before 4 a.m. Junedi-Mohamed was known to police before his death, including for a September 2015 incident where he faced drug charges after allegedly being found hiding after a shooting near where he was later killed. The murder weapon has not been recovered. Thom would not say how many shots were fired, only that police believe only one gun was involved.
An autopsy Saturday confirmed the victim died of a gunshot wound. When first responders arrived they found the victim on the sidewalk without vital signs, said Det. His death marks the 10th homicide in Hamilton this year. Police are searching for two suspects and witnesses who were with the Hamilton man before he was shot around 1:35 a.m. Hamilton police have identified 29-year-old Obsa Junedi-Mohamed as the victim of a fatal shooting outside Boulevard Billiards early Saturday.
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