Killer of pregnant Candice Bobb will be charged in death of her baby: police
CBC News | Posted: February 28, 2017 11:48 AM | Last Updated: February 28, 2017
Police say they are still seeking suspects in deadly 2016 Rexdale drive-by shooting
Toronto police say anyone arrested in the deadly 2016 drive-by shooting of a pregnant Mississauga woman will also be charged with homicide in the death of her baby.
Candice Rochelle Bobb, five months pregnant, was killed while she was sitting in a stopped vehicle in Rexdale on May 15, 2016. Her baby, Kyrie, was delivered prematurely and died three weeks later.
Bobb was returning home from a basketball game when the car she was in was sprayed with bullets. Three other people, in the car with her in the area of Jamestown Crescent and John Garland Boulevard, were unharmed.
Police say they are still seeking suspects to the killing.
Level of violence 'astronomically high'
"The level of violence here is astronomically high," Det. Sgt. Mike Carbone said on Tuesday morning during an appeal for information about the shooting.
Police previously said the vehicle was targeted, but that Bobb was likely not the intended victim.
"For sure, Rochelle Bobb was not targeted," Carbone confirmed Tuesday.
He told reporters police cannot say with certainty now if anyone else in the car or the car itself was targeted. The vehicle made a U-turn in the area and Carbone said that it's possible that drew attention to the car and was perceived as a threat.
Police have not yet ruled out gang violence as being connected to the shooting, the detective sergeant told reporters.
In fact, Carbone said that investigators are looking to see if there are any forensic links between evidence connected to Bobb's death and the shooting of a teenage boy at the same intersection — Jamestown Crescent and John Garland Boulevard — on Feb. 6.
"But we still have a lot of work to do with respect to conclusively linking those shootings together."
Bobb's baby died 3 weeks after C-section
Bobb's baby boy, Kyrie, was delivered by emergency C-section at just 24 weeks — but died three weeks later.
Carbone said the delay in confirming that any suspects would also be charged with the homicide of Bobb's child was because this is a "very, very complicated part of the law."
The announcement Tuesday makes baby Kyrie the 74th homicide victim of 2016, according to police figures.
- Candice Rochelle Bobb remembered by Rexdale community
- Gang rivalry possible factor in Rochelle Bobb shooting death: police sources
Back in 2016, the deadly shooting sparked widespread outrage, drawing attention to the Toronto's ongoing battle with gun violence.
Following Bobb's death, Police Chief Mark Saunders said her killing "shocked the city."