Afghan community reeling after murders

Unrelated homicides of man and woman happened within days of each other

Afghans in the Greater Toronto Area are reeling following the recent murder of two of their community members in Scarborough.

“We’re all shocked by this news,” local entrepreneur and journalist Nasir Khalid told Toronto.com.

“Everybody is very sad. Everybody is very upset with what’s going on.”

Khalid, a well-known local leader in the GTA’s roughly 110,000-member Afghan community, administers the popular “Afghan Community in Toronto” Facebook group. Within the group, dozens of Afghans have expressed sadness and offered prayers for 36-year-old Nabila Aminzadah of Toronto and 23year-old Abdulmoaize Popal of Ajax.

Aminzadah died on Nov. 12 after being found seriously injured in Scarborough’s Highland Creek neighbourhood.

Shortly after 3 a.m. that day, Toronto police were called to a house on Ellesmere Road, just east of Meadowvale Road. There, they found Aminzadah in a basement apartment with “trauma to her body.” She was rushed to hospital, but succumbed to her injuries a short time later. Aminzadah is Toronto’s 75th murder victim of 2021.

Carland Walker, 24, of Toronto, was arrested and charged with firstdegree murder. He had a Nov. 12 court appearance.

Very little is known about Aminzadah, or the circumstances that led to her tragic death.

Just four days later, on Nov. 16,

Popal was killed in a drive-by shooting in Scarborough’s Woburn area.

Shortly after 10 p.m. that day, police were called to a shooting at an apartment complex at 3945 Lawrence Ave. E., just east of Orton Park Road.

There, officers located an unresponsive man who had been shot and had no vital signs.

Paramedics performed life-saving measures, but Popal was pronounced dead at the scene. He is Toronto’s 77th murder victim of 2021. Investigators are looking for a light-coloured SUV, believed to be a Subaru, which was reportedly seen fleeing.

While Khalid didn’t know Aminzadah personally, he is, however, a long-time friend of the Popal family and knew Abdulmoaize since he was just two or three years old.

Khalid said Popal, who was visiting a friend at the time of his murder, was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Hundreds of mourners gathered on Friday at the Islamic Foundation of Toronto on Nugget Avenue for Popal’s funeral.

A memorial later on that day at Scarborough’s Metropolitan Centre brought together more than 500 people.

No details are available about a funeral service for Aminzadah.

Anyone with information about these two unrelated homicides, including anyone with video footage, is urged to contact Toronto police’s homicide squad at 416-808-7400. Anonymous tips can be provided through Crime Stoppers at 222tips.com or 416-222-8477 (TIPS).