3 teen girls wanted in murder of blood-covered man on Stoney Creek Mountain
Kelly Bennett | CBC News | Posted: May 3, 2017 6:06 PM | Last Updated: May 3, 2017
Police seeking 3 teen escorts who they say drove with Mississauga man to Hamilton and stabbed him
Hamilton police are seeking 3 teen escorts in connection with the stabbing death of a Mississauga man who staggered into a Stoney Creek Mountain gas station covered in blood last Friday.
Police say the teens drove with the man to Hamilton last week and stabbed him in "a rural property not too far from the gas station."
The victim, 33-year-old Hayder Qasim-Rushdie, died two days later in hospital.
They have issued a warrant for three 17-year-old girls, wanted for second-degree murder, said Det. Sgt. Dave Oleniuk. One is from Hamilton and two are from elsewhere in the Greater Toronto Area, he said.
Police believe the three girls were working as escorts and the man, Qasim-Rushdie, was a client of theirs.
It's possible that they knew Qasim-Rushdie before last week, Oleniuk said.
"We believe they met in Mississauga and drove to Hamilton, to the rural area near where he ended up in the gas station," Oleniuk said.
Qasim-Rushdie was stabbed in the neck. Police found blood in his car and are doing forensic analysis, including blood pattern analysis, Oleniuk said. They have also recovered the knife that they say was used in the stabbing.
Oleniuk wouldn't speculate publicly about the motivation for the stabbing.
"We have a theory but we're keeping an open mind as well," he said. He wouldn't comment on the theory police are working with.
"Their side of the story is yet to be told," he said of the suspect.
As Qasim-Rushdie staggered into the gas station, police believe the girls "left on their own and went to a residence on the mountain," Oleniuk said.
Police got a search warrant for that house and searched it Tuesday. The one suspect from Hamilton doesn't live there but "she is connected to that address," he said.
Oleniuk said Qasim-Rushdie's family is in mourning. He was single.