15 murders in Mississauga in 2022 more than in all of Peel the previous year
Published January 3, 2023 at 11:10 am
Mississauga saw 15 murders within its borders in 2022, more than in all of Peel the previous year.
The most-recent slaying happened last Friday morning (Dec. 30) when Hammad Shaikh, 42, was gunned down in a park area near Brass Winds Place, by Mavis Rd. and Hwy. 401. He died at the scene, and a Mississauga man is facing a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death.
It was the 29th murder of the year in Peel (Mississauga and Brampton).
According to Peel Regional Police, there were 14 murders total in all of Peel in 2021 and 18 slayings in 2020.
In 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions on public gatherings taking hold, there were 31 murders in both cities combined.
A Peel police spokesperson would not comment on the significant increase in murders in 2022.
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Meanwhile, police are still hunting the culprits responsible for two early December murders in Mississauga.
On Dec. 7 at about 9:30 p.m., in the parking lot outside Scooter’s Roller Palace in Clarkson, a man was shot and pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.
The victim was subsequently identified as Tristan Oldham, 31, of Toronto.
Four days earlier, on the night of Dec. 3, Mississauga gas station attendant Pawanpreet Kaur, 21, was gunned down just after 10:30 p.m. as she worked at the Petro-Canada on the northeast corner of Britannia and Creditview Rds.
Police later said that the Brampton woman’s killer had travelled to and from the murder scene both on foot and by bicycle.
Investigators have said they believe Kaur, who was shot multiple times, was targeted, adding it’s possible the killer may have visited the gas station prior to the shooting.
It was the latest incident in a wave of gun-related violence that swept the west and northwest part of Mississauga in 2022.
On Nov. 2, a man was shot to death near Meadowvale Community Centre in the city’s north end.
The victim was found on a pathway south of the community centre, which is located just east of Meadowvale Town Centre shopping mall.
Twice so far this year, Peel police have set aside Saturdays to go door to door in Meadowvale-area neighbourhoods–and Erin Mills as well–in search of information related to shootings, some of them fatal.
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