'Big loss': Fear and sadness grips Ghanaian community, high school students after Toronto bus shootings

Several communities are grieving and living in fear after back-to-back shootings last week in northwest Toronto, with those connected to the victims still reeling with shock.

Several communities are grieving and living in fear after back-to-back shootings last week in northwest Toronto, with those connected to the victims still reeling with shock.

Arriving in November from Ghana, 40-year-old Adu Boakye had just begun his new life in Canada. Last Saturday, he was shot and killed while walking by a bus stop in the area of Jane Street and Driftwood Avenue.

Boakye’s Ghanaian community in the GTA is now organizing a vigil exactly one week after his death, on Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. by the bus stop. Vigil organizers are asking people to bring flowers and say everyone is welcome.

One of Boakye’s closest friends, Richardson Adorsu, described him as jovial, and told CTV News Toronto he has four children between the ages of two and 17. Adorsu created a GoFundMe to help pay for Boakye’s funeral and help support his wife and kids back home.

“Adu was the primary provider for his family,” he wrote. “This devastating situation is a big loss for a family who is so far [away] and cannot be here to see Adu for the last time.”

Emmanuel Duodu, president of the Ghanaian-Canadian Association of Ontario, said their community is “traumatized and very concerned.”