A crowd of several hundred people gathered in High Park before marching, candles, flowers and notes in hand, to the tube station where the tragedy occurred.
Family, friends and classmates were part of the procession.
Gabriel Magalhaes was fatally stabbed at the Keele subway station in Toronto on March 25 in a new attack, police say.
Photo: Dummodo by Andrea Magalhaes
In a powerful move, the mother of the victim, Andrea Magalhaes, gathered herself by sitting on the bench where her son was on Saturday evening, when Jordan O’Brien-Tobin, a 25-year-old man, was stabbed. He was arrested and charged with first degree murder.
Part of the crowd escorted him inside the station. On the way to the event, the emergency memorial was illuminated by many candles.
It is so beautiful that there are so many of them today, commented Sheryl Cheema, a former classmate of Gabriel. It shows that we are a community and we are here to support Gabriel together.
He was remembered as a teenager, someone who was always, always cheerful.
“He was a friend to everyone, he was really nice to people and didn’t expect anything from them. That’s why we all loved him.”
– Place of Sheryl Cheema, friend of Gabriel Magalhaes
Now that that’s gone, we can see how [sa mort] all the feelings I hope we can change and make CTT a safer place, because now it’s awesome, she continued.
The teenager’s death has shocked the city.
On Thursday, the city council asked the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) to set aside up to $15 million from its emergency fund. That money is being spent on making the transit system safer, according to TTC CEO Rick Leary.
According to a report released by the Commission last month, there were 1,068 violent incidents against customers in 2022 and violent incidents against customers increased by 46% last year, compared to 2021.
3 deaths on or near the CTT network since last summer
Gabriel Magalhaes is the third person to die in and around Toronto’s transit system since last summer.
Vanessa Kurpiewska, 31, was fatally stabbed at High Park station in a back-and-forth attack on December 8. A 37-year-old man was also injured in the attack. Neng Jia Jin, 52, is charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder.
Nyima Dolma, 28, of Toronto, was shot at the TTC bus station at Kipling on June 17. She died a few days later in the hospital. Tenzin Norbu, 33, was arrested nearby and charged with first degree murder, among other things.
A great expedition was launched in aid of the Magalhaes family.
With information from Theodore Doucet and the CBC
