WILLIAM JUNIOR APPIAH FUNERAL TORONTO, CANADA

Tearful Mom Issues Plea On Day Of Slain Son's Funeral
Monday October 6, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff

Toronto's 50th murder victim of 2008 was laid to rest Monday.

William Junior Appiah was just 18 years old when he was gunned down September 16, shot on a basketball court near Jane and Finch.

Friends and family gathered at the Demarco Funeral home to say their final goodbyes.

"I don't know [how I feel]," Richard Aeoagy tried to explain.

"It hurt. It hurts me a lot because I knew him since we were little small kids, playing on the same soccer team."

Appiah's mother was also in shock.

"The mother was literally talking to the boy in the casket: 'Wake up, wake up. I said wake up,' you know? And we all know that it's not going to happen. It's really a shame," Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo described.

But a tearful Monica Appiah recovered enough to issue a final appeal to those who know the culprits behind the brazen killing. "I have forgiven them," she cries in a heartbreaking scene outside the ceremony. "And I - I pray that they um, that they should come forward."

The slain boy's father wants you to know his son wasn't into the gang life. "He was a good kid," a broken-up Nana Appiah assures. "He loved people, but they cut his life too short." He prays every day at the spot where his son was slain.
At the time of his death, police revealed that though they knew Appiah was probably the man the shooters were after, they didn't know why.

"There's no question in my mind whatsoever that he was the intended target of this crime," Det. Sgt. Gary Grinton outlined in the days after the murder.

While he admitted that the victim had a 'small' rap sheet, he didn't believe it was related to his death. When asked if it was gang related, he said he didn't know.

Security footage from the scene shows three suspects walking towards the victim moments before he was killed. But so far, no one has come forward to identify any of them.

See the footage here.

Six of Toronto's last 11 murder victims were 19 years old or younger.

Police Update Toronto's 50th Murder: 18-Year-Old Killed On A Basketball Court

Police Release Video Of City's 50th Homicide

Emotional Dad Pleads For Info On Son's Killer

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• William
• Junior
• Appiah
• Toronto
• murders
• Jane
• and
• Finch
• 800-222-tips
• crimestoppers
• toronto

[AchmedTheDead11]

R.I.P.

[tushilipsy5]

rip!

[Fanadadotca]

The entire Toronto media was inside this church!!

[stickz4lyfe]

r.i.p i miss yuh brejin

[Texgame]

Rest in peace young man.

My condolences to the parents, family, and friends of Willian Appiah.