Tow-truck driver Sulakshan "Sully" Selvasingam, 28, of Pickering, was shot dead on July 6, 2024, at a Shell gas station in Toronto. The killer, a 16-year-old high school student, was hired by influential adults involved in the city's escalating tow-truck wars, according to court documents.
Contract Killing Details
According to an agreed statement of facts, the teen, identified only as A.P., received instructions from an adult a day before the murder. He was told to shoot Selvasingam in the body and then finish him off with a bullet to the head. The hitman was also instructed to record the murder and send confirmation for payment.
Outside the court, the victim's father expressed his belief that the teenaged contract killer and his two co-accused were paid just $7,500 for the hit, though the agreed statement made no mention of the fee. The father blamed Selvasingam's business competitors for hiring kids to do their dirty work.
Father's Warning Ignored
The victim's father had urged his son to find a safer line of work, such as real estate, due to the dangers of the tow-truck industry. He recalled saying, "We heard every day they burn tow trucks, they shoot at tow truck drivers, so many things. I said, 'Don't do that. This is very dangerous job.'" Three months before his murder, Selvasingam assured his father he was giving it up.
Violence in the Tow-Truck Industry
Crown attorney Sharna Reid stated that Selvasingam's murder is connected to the well-known violence in the tow-truck industry. "Influential adults connected to the tow truck industry recruited A.P. to commit this offence. They had access to firearms and were prepared to engage in retaliatory violence within the towing industry," she told Superior Court Justice Maureen Forestell.
Reid added that the adults used young persons, including A.P., by offering them money to carry out murders. A.P. believed that these adults would not hesitate to harm their perceived enemies, including those who had been previously aligned with them.
Preparation and Execution
A.P. and his fellow hired guns spent July 5 and July 6 scouting the area near Kennedy Road and Highway 401 in stolen vehicles, searching for the target. On the night of the murder, Selvasingam was at a car meet with a friend. They left at 10 p.m. to get food, but Selvasingam said he needed to make a quick stop to meet someone. He drove into the Shell station and parked next to A.P.'s stolen white Honda Civic.
"Mr. A.P. shot Mr. Selvasingam nine times, including in the head," Reid said, as the victim's mother and sister wept. The killer, now 18, showed no emotion.
Aftermath and Arrest
After the murder, A.P. and his two friends met in Uxbridge, where they threw the stolen licence plates down a sewer drain, torched the car, and fled in a stolen black Acura. The same adults who hired him to kill also recruited him to commit other shootings aimed at businesses tied to the tow-truck industry. A.P. pleaded guilty to 13 counts of reckless discharge of a firearm between May and July 2024 at various locations, including two cinemas, an auto collision centre, and a towing company.
A.P. and one accomplice were caught on July 15 after an unmarked OPP cruiser's automatic licence reader alerted police to a stolen 2020 Dodge Charger on the 401. A.P. crossed several lanes to exit at Keele Street, went through a red light, and when police tried to box him in, he and his passenger fled their moving vehicle. On his arrest, a loaded Glock 23 .40 calibre handgun fell from A.P.'s satchel. The firearm was the same one used to kill Selvasingam nine days earlier.
A sentencing date hasn't been set. Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the maximum penalty for first-degree murder is 10 years, with only six in custody.
