Indian Student's Killer Nabbed in Toronto Had Killed Twice Within 48 Hrs: Police

Calling it a random act of violence, Toronto police refuted the possibility of it being a hate crime.

21-year-old Kartik Vasudev, was a management student who was killed by an unknown assailant at a Toronto subway station last week.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The alleged killer of 21-year-old Kartik Vasudev, a management student who was killed at a Toronto subway station last week, was arrested on Tuesday, 12 April.

Calling the attack a "random act of violence", the Toronto police in a press briefing on Tuesday, identified the alleged killer as Richard Jonathan Edwin (39).

The police said that Edwin had killed another man identified as Elijah Mahepath (35) on 9 April. The investigation led to the links being drawn with Kartik's murder.

Kartik had moved to Toronto just three months ago for higher education. He was shot dead at the Sherbourne subway station on his way to work on 7 April.

What Police Said on Motive

The police said that the accused was a "complete stranger" to Kartik and had shot him "multiple times, unprovoked and defenceless."

Stressing the fact that the accused has no criminal background and his interaction with both victims was very brief, the police urged not to "speculate" the attacks being hate crimes

"Two days later on April 9, Elijah Mahepath (35), a resident of Toronto, was murdered as he was walking in the area of Dundas and George Street in the East End of the downtown corp. He too, was approached by an apparent stranger, was shot multiple times, and despite life-saving measures, also succumbed to his injuries," Toronto Chief of Police James Ramer said.

"In the aftermath of the second attack, our investigators were quickly able to draw a link between the murder of Kartik and that of Elijah and all our effort was initiated to track his movement to identify him and to arrest him," he said, adding that Edwin was tracked to an address in the area of Spadina and Bloor Street West.

'Cache of Firearms at Suspect's House'

The police further revealed that there was a cache of licensed arms that were recovered from Edwin's house.

"The emergency task force entered the suspect's residence where he was taken into custody on Sunday evening. I can report that this was done safely and without incident, despite the fact that the accused had several loaded firearms on the floor next to him," Chief Ramer said, adding that the police has seized several firearms, including handguns, rifles, loaded magazines, and other ammunition.

"Given that he had already killed two apparent strangers, as we allege, and by the cache of firearms that was located in his residence we can reasonably conclude that the quick work of our investigators has prevented further loss of life," he added.

Kartik, originally from UP's Ghaziabad, was pursuing a digital management course at Seneca College.

After he was reported missing, his manager had identified his picture being flashed on a news channel that was reporting on the shooting at the subway station.