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 Clemee Joseph's 18-year-old son Jarvis St. Remy was murdered while waiting for a bus in Toronto, on May 1, 2009. (Sun Media/Dave Thomas) |
TORONTO -- Jarvis St. Remy was targeted when he was gunned down while waiting at a west-end bus stop. That much seemed certain yesterday.
But why anyone wanted the 18-year-old man with a midnight curfew and no criminal history dead remained a mystery to his grieving mother and cops delving into his life.
"I would always ask him questions: 'How is school? What is going on in your life?' " Clemee Joseph, 38, said yesterday, sitting across from the couch where her slain son watched his beloved basketball. "He never told me he was in a misunderstanding with anybody. I never knew him to be a troubled boy."
St. Remy still had bus money left from what his mom gave him Thursday, so he didn't wait for her to get home from work before going to his friend's place after school Friday. But Joseph knew she would hear from her son on his way home.
After watching television with his two best friends on Dundas St. W., just west of Scarlett Rd., St. Remy walked out to catch the 10:45 p.m. 30 Lambton bus home.
"When the phone rang at quarter to 11, I thought it was him calling me to let me know that he was on his way. But it was his friend calling to say that he's been shot," Joseph said.
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Toronto Police Det. Doug Sansom said it appears he was targeted by his killer, but the reason for the murder remains a mystery.
"There's no ... police background on Jarvis. So we have to look at his friends," he said.
Before he had his circle of friends -- having recently moved to Toronto from Saint Lucia -- St. Remy called his mother in tears about four years ago. Some guys had beat him up for his iPod.
Stories like this, and the countless stories of violence in Toronto, made Joseph remind her boys "to choose the right friends and respect yourself."
There didn't seem to be any problems with St. Remy's friends. And the aspiring computer engineer, set to graduate from Grade 12 next month, rarely left home, Joseph said.
Now his 13-year-old brother, Kasim, with whom he shared a bed since they were young boys, sleeps alone.
"I need to know what happened, if Jarvis was involved in something with them (the suspects) -- which I doubt," Joseph said.
"My son was not a violent child. I hope it was a case of mistaken identity. I hope it wasn't meant for him. Nobody deserves to die like that."
TAMARA.CHERRY@SUNMEDIA.CA