Parfait Karekezi often leaves his cellphone on silent each time he goes to mattress at night time, however on the night of Nov. 9, he determined to depart the ringer on.
He bought a name at round 1 a.m. informing him his brother, Erixon Kabera, had died.
“Every little thing went on maintain … I used to be not capable of suppose,” he instructed CBC Hamilton.
Kabera had been shot by cops in his Hamilton residence constructing and died of his accidents within the early hours of Nov. 10.
Karekezi, 38, left residence in his pyjamas and drove together with his spouse from his residence in Gatineau, Que., to Hamilton. By the point he arrived, his brother’s physique had already been taken to Toronto for an post-mortem.
It has been greater than 140 days since Kabera was killed. He was 43, the oldest of 5 siblings and father of three youngsters.
For Karekezi, his brother was “the whole lot.”
“Erixon was not solely my brother, he was my buddy. He was my function mannequin. He was my mentor,” he stated.
Investigation with SIU director
Ontario’s police watchdog, the Particular Investigation Unit (SIU), took over the investigation in November.
Hamilton police stated somebody referred to as on Nov. 9 to report a person “at their door believed to be in possession of a handgun.”
Of their preliminary assertion, the SIU stated Hamilton officers responded to stories of a person “performing in a threatening method” and pictures had been fired. Initially, they stated there was an “trade of gunfire.” The subsequent day, SIU issued one other assertion saying, primarily based on “additional investigation”, “it doesn’t seem that the person discharged a firearm,” however quite two cops did.
A reproduction handgun was later recovered on the scene, the SIU stated.
On its web site, the police watchdog says it goals to finish investigations inside 120 days.
“Nevertheless, this isn’t all the time attainable as every investigation has its personal necessities and procedures,” stated a spokesperson for the SIU.
“In some circumstances, together with dying circumstances, investigators may have to attend for outdoor specialists and businesses to finish stories corresponding to toxicology and pathology stories.”
The SIU stated investigators within the case have accomplished interviews and picked up and analyzed proof. A report with all of the findings is with the SIU director for evaluate.
“Relying on the proof, the Director will trigger a felony cost to be laid in opposition to the [officer] the place grounds exist for doing so, or shut the file with none prices being laid,” stated the spokesperson.
The SIU stated they’re in communication with the household.
“We perceive how troublesome ready may be for individuals concerned in our investigations, together with the households of those that have been severely injured or who’ve died,” a spokesperson stated.
A ‘lovely’ soul and a beneficiant and charismatic particular person
In the meantime, Karekezi says, his life has been “on maintain.”
“I misplaced a confidant. I misplaced somebody who had all my secrets and techniques,” he stated. “I am misplaced.”
Karekezi stated he hasn’t been capable of correctly transfer on from his brother’s dying because of the “shock” and confusion the scenario has brought about.
“We would like the SIU to know that placing individuals [through this] for a really very long time, it breaks their coronary heart,” he stated.
Karekezi stated his brother was a “lovely” soul and a beneficiant and charismatic particular person who helped many and was recognized locally.
He stated Kabera, who immigrated to Canada from Rwanda, labored for the federal government beforehand and was an upstanding one that helped him file his taxes for the primary time and confirmed him ” be an excellent citizen in Canada.”
“He had huge desires, huge plans for issues that he wished to realize,” he stated.
Karekezi stated the wait, together with the theories others give you attempting to make sense of what occurred to Kabera, has been painful.
He stated he desires Hamilton police to “present that Hamilton is a metropolis the place everybody, particularly Black individuals, really feel protected.”
The lawyer representing the household is Julian Falconer, who has an extended historical past of involvement in circumstances of prisoner rights and police accountability.
A GoFundMe was arrange final yr to assist Kabera’s household cowl authorized charges.
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