'IT'S ONE TOO MANY'

Dozens of family, friends hold vigil for man killed at North York bus stop

- CALVI LEON

Adu Boakye came 9,000 kilometres in search of a job that would support his family back in Ghana. Three months into his new role as a factory worker for a logistics company, he was gunned down near a Toronto bus stop.

Now, his friends and members of the city's Ghanaian community are hoping his wife and children can travel to Canada for his funeral.

"We are trying to relocate the family here," said his close friend, Richardson Adorsu. "We are begging that the government can assist."

On Saturday, near the intersection where Boakye was shot in broad daylight one week ago, mourners gathered outside Driftwood Community Recreation Centre for a vigil to remember the quiet and hardworking man.

Boakye immigrated to Toronto last November and was on his way to run errands on Feb. 17 when he was shot three times, including twice in the stomach. A day earlier, a 16-year-old boy was shot near the same North York intersection while waiting for a bus to play volleyball. He remains in hospital. Investigators have said neither victim knew each other and were "indiscriminately" targeted.

The second child in a family of nine kids, Boakye was a family man who worked as a bricklayer in Ghana, according to friends. He was working at a factory in Vaughan, where he quickly became friends with Orwell Coffie.

"We used to talk about everything," Coffie said. "We cooked everything together," including Boakye's personal favourite - Waakye, a Ghanaian dish of cooked rice and beans.

Adorsu said Boakye's family has not yet processed their loss; his wife is unable to speak about it, and their eldest son isn't even aware yet. "He doesn't know that his dad has passed because he's writing his exams," Adorsu said, noting the family wants him to focus on that before sharing the news.