Two More Arrests in Murder of Innocent Man

Two more arrests have been made following the 2023 murder of a 21-year-old Scarborough man – targeted because of where he lived, not who he was.

On September 24, 2023, at around 11:17 p.m., police responded to a call for a shooting in the Morningside Ave. and Danzig St. area. A man located suffering from gunshot wounds was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

On October 8, Joshua Bernard-Reis succumbed to his injuries.

At a news conference at police headquarters on January 2, Detective Sergeant Brandon Price said the victim had returned home after helping a family move.

“Joshua parked his car in the driveway and walked towards his front door when four suspects opened fire with handguns from a small park area across the street,” he said. “Numerous shots were fired at him and at another victim inside the parked vehicle who managed to escape physical injury.”

The suspects fled the area in a stolen vehicle. 

Following an exhaustive initial investigation, Jermaine Goode –then 19 -- was arrested and charged in November 2023 with first-degree murder and attempted murder.

On January 25, 2024, Toronto Police -- with assistance from Peel Regional Police -- arrested and charged a 16-year-old youth with first-degree murder and attempted murder.

“Since then, over the last year, the investigation has continued, and through a relentless pursuit of the evidence in this case we have formed grounds to charge two additional individuals,” Price noted.

Last Monday, 21-year-old Tyler Brown of Toronto and an 18-year-old youth from Brampton were arrested and charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder.

“This incident is another heartbreaking example of innocent people being caught up by gun violence in our city,” Price added. “These arrests demonstrate our dedication and hard work to bring justice to these incidents.”

He believes the victim and the person in the car who escaped without physical injury were shot at because of the area in which they live.

“There are several theories that could explain this,” said Price. “Danzig St. has had issues in the past and it seems there is a high likelihood that this is a situation where it was a message to the street or something like that because there is no reason why these individuals would have been targeted. They are not involved in any kind of criminality or gang involvement. These are two hard-working individual people who happened to live on Danzig St.”