SHAMARI BELNAVIS sensed he was going to die.
A few minutes after telling his younger sister to stay on the straight and narrow, two gunmen chased him down and executed him in an apparent gang hit at a west-end townhouse complex.
But before he was assassinated, the 20-year-old father of two, with a third on the way, managed to save his toddler brother.
"He saved my baby brother," said the victim's sister, Shenika Simms, 16, adding that minutes before he was slain, Belnavis lectured her about staying out of trouble.
"Now that I seen this happen, it's like he knew he was going to die," Simms said.
"He's giving me the lecture, he's telling me, 'You're my little sister, you have to grow up like a princess.'
"He was so mad when he said it to me," she said. "He wanted me to finish school and everything."
Simms said she balked at the thought of him dying, when he asked her to "promise me you'll be a celebrity before I die."
"Right after he said that, I went into the kitchen," Simms said. "As soon as I opened the fridge, 'boom, boom, boom, boom.' "
Outside, a killer with guns blazing in each hand and an accomplice who was also armed with a pistol, were spraying bullets around the Humber Blvd. complex, near Weston Rd. and Black Creek Dr., in a reckless attempt to hit their target.
Simms said Belnavis pushed his 4-year-old brother, Jaden, to the ground.
Jaden huddled by a wooden fence until his frantic mother crawled on her hands and knees to get him out of harm's way.
"He put (Jaden's) life before his," Simms said.
As bullets whizzed around the complex, Belnavis, who was awaiting trial for a 2004 wounding in North York, ran 25 paces before he collapsed in a pool of blood.
A neighbour, who identified herself as J Lo, said the assassins, whose faces were hidden by balaclavas, were "blued out" -- meaning they were wearing the trademark colour of the Crips. The colours are worn "to make you know who's doing it," she said.
"I saw them running down," she said. "They're right over them and they're still shooting. And as he was lying there, (they) backed up and backed up, and still they're firing."
She said Belnavis pleaded for an ambulance to be called.
His stepmom tried to keep him alive until medics arrived.
A teen known as Freshie, 19, was wounded by a wayward bullet. He was treated at hospital and was later released.
Belnavis, described by police as tied to the Bloods, was with family and friends at the townhouse complex Tuesday evening when the two gunmen bailed out of a minivan.
LOST COUNT OF SHOTS
Witnesses said the gunmen were determined to kill Belnavis, firing wildly, even though there were dozens of children playing in the confined open space.
They lost count of the shots they heard and were shocked by the killers' brazen disregard for the lives of children playing in the area.
Yesterday, family gathered at the small townhouse, including Belnavis' birth mom, who sobbed, "My son is dead."
Simms said her dad, Pattel Simms, is devastated, while stepmom Andrea McInnis "is freaking out because my little brother could have gotten killed too."
Asked if gangs were involved, Simms said, "I don't know about all that."
"If I was to catch them, I would slaughter them," she said. "He may have done bad in his life, but he did not deserve that at all.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2005/07/21/1141035-sun.html
A few minutes after telling his younger sister to stay on the straight and narrow, two gunmen chased him down and executed him in an apparent gang hit at a west-end townhouse complex.
But before he was assassinated, the 20-year-old father of two, with a third on the way, managed to save his toddler brother.
"He saved my baby brother," said the victim's sister, Shenika Simms, 16, adding that minutes before he was slain, Belnavis lectured her about staying out of trouble.
"Now that I seen this happen, it's like he knew he was going to die," Simms said.
"He's giving me the lecture, he's telling me, 'You're my little sister, you have to grow up like a princess.'
"He was so mad when he said it to me," she said. "He wanted me to finish school and everything."
Simms said she balked at the thought of him dying, when he asked her to "promise me you'll be a celebrity before I die."
"Right after he said that, I went into the kitchen," Simms said. "As soon as I opened the fridge, 'boom, boom, boom, boom.' "
Outside, a killer with guns blazing in each hand and an accomplice who was also armed with a pistol, were spraying bullets around the Humber Blvd. complex, near Weston Rd. and Black Creek Dr., in a reckless attempt to hit their target.
Simms said Belnavis pushed his 4-year-old brother, Jaden, to the ground.
Jaden huddled by a wooden fence until his frantic mother crawled on her hands and knees to get him out of harm's way.
"He put (Jaden's) life before his," Simms said.
As bullets whizzed around the complex, Belnavis, who was awaiting trial for a 2004 wounding in North York, ran 25 paces before he collapsed in a pool of blood.
A neighbour, who identified herself as J Lo, said the assassins, whose faces were hidden by balaclavas, were "blued out" -- meaning they were wearing the trademark colour of the Crips. The colours are worn "to make you know who's doing it," she said.
"I saw them running down," she said. "They're right over them and they're still shooting. And as he was lying there, (they) backed up and backed up, and still they're firing."
She said Belnavis pleaded for an ambulance to be called.
His stepmom tried to keep him alive until medics arrived.
A teen known as Freshie, 19, was wounded by a wayward bullet. He was treated at hospital and was later released.
Belnavis, described by police as tied to the Bloods, was with family and friends at the townhouse complex Tuesday evening when the two gunmen bailed out of a minivan.
LOST COUNT OF SHOTS
Witnesses said the gunmen were determined to kill Belnavis, firing wildly, even though there were dozens of children playing in the confined open space.
They lost count of the shots they heard and were shocked by the killers' brazen disregard for the lives of children playing in the area.
Yesterday, family gathered at the small townhouse, including Belnavis' birth mom, who sobbed, "My son is dead."
Simms said her dad, Pattel Simms, is devastated, while stepmom Andrea McInnis "is freaking out because my little brother could have gotten killed too."
Asked if gangs were involved, Simms said, "I don't know about all that."
"If I was to catch them, I would slaughter them," she said. "He may have done bad in his life, but he did not deserve that at all.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2005/07/21/1141035-sun.html
