Ottawa

Canadian diplomat's ex-partner says son killed in Miami shooting had 'no trouble with the law'

Jean Wabafiyebazu was suspected of doing drugs at school, but the 17-year-old had "no trouble with the law" before he was shot and killed in Miami in an apparent drug deal gone wrong just weeks after moving to Florida from Ottawa for his mother's diplomatic posting, his father told CBC News.

Teenage boys living with mother Roxanne Dubé, Canada's consul general in Miami

VIDEO: Father of teens in Florida shootout speaks to CBC

10 years ago
Duration 1:52
Germano Wabafiyebazu speaks from Ottawa home about Miami incident

Jean Wabafiyebazu was suspected of doing drugs at school, but the 17-year-old had "no trouble with the law" before he was shot and killed in Miami in an apparent drug deal gone wrong just weeks after moving to Florida from Ottawa for his mother's diplomatic posting, his father told CBC News.

Germano Wabafiyebazu, the ex-partner of Roxanne Dubé, said from Ottawa that their 15-year-old son Marc is in police custody following the Monday shootout in Florida that also left another teenager dead.

"It's very sad. They should not end up in this kind of situation," Germano Wabafiyebazu said. "It's a shock. Really a shock."
Canadian Jean Wabafiyebazu, left, was killed on Monday and his brother, Marc Wabafiyebazu, right, is in police custody after a shootout inside a Miami apartment complex. Their mother, Roxanne Dubé, is Canada's consul general in the city. (Twitter/Facebook)

Dubé was appointed as Canadian consul general in Miami in November, but Wabafiyebazu said his sons didn't join her until February.

Wabafiyebazu said he suspected his oldest son Jean may have been smoking marijuana, after he was called by the school the teen attended.

"His school, they told us, 'He's taking some substance but we don't know what. We are just alerting you.'"

He said his sons attended school in French in both Zimbabwe and Ottawa prior to moving to Miami.

"So, to go to U.S. had to be very difficult," he said.

Wabafiyebazu said his younger son "is a perfect kid."

"I can't believe that Marc could touch an arm, because he's a very, very reserved person," he said.    

Though he has not spoken to Marc directly since his arrest, Germano Wabafiyebazu has spoken to the boy's mother.

"[He] is devastated. He's crying to see his brother dead. He keeps repeating it. ... That's what his mother is telling me," he said.

The teens had borrowed their mother's car, their father said, noting that he had separated from his sons' mother a few years ago.