Second-degree murder charges laid in Wasaga Beach stabbing
Ontario Provincial Police have charged two men with second-degree murder in a deadly weekend stabbing in Wasaga Beach.
Police say 23-year-old Mustafa Khaleel was found dead on Beach Area 1 at about 12:40 a.m Sunday.
A 21-year-old Toronto man and a 25-year-old Brampton man are charged with Khaleel’s death and have been remanded into custody. Police say they are withholding the suspect’s names to protect the integrity of the investigation.
Det.-Inst. Martin Graham says there’s no evidence Khaleel knew his alleged killers before the weekend but says the violence was not random.
“It seems to have occurred between two groups of people that happened to be on the beach late on the evening of Saturday into Sunday,” Graham explains.
Police say there were as many as 30 people on the beach at the time. It’s unclear how many of them may have been involved in the fight and how many were bystanders.
Two other people were hurt in the brawl. While they weren’t stabbed, their injuries were serious enough for trips to the hospital. They were treated and released.
Police have some sense of what was behind the confrontation but are not sharing that information.
A number of people who own and work at businesses near the beachfront describe the weekend violence as rare but not a surprise.
Shawn Harris, manager at the Shore Store, has noticed a change the last two summers. He says fewer families are settling in for a day in the sun, and more younger visitors are getting a little too loose.
“They come, they make a bunch of mistakes, they tear things up, and then they leave,” Harris says. “It’s an amusement park here. But it’s become more volatile.”
Harris and employees at other local businesses believe hostility pent-up during the pandemic may be driving some of the rowdyism.
Harris describes clashes over COVID-19 protocols on the sand.
Several business owners feel an increased presence from OPP or bylaw officers could bring down the temperature.
“Just showing their presence for five-ten minutes—‘we’re here, please don’t destroy our stuff. This is our hometown’,” Harris says.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.