Shooting victim found in driveway loved God, Friday prayers and luxury cars

Marko Bakir always wanted his best friend Frank to travel with him.

The 31-year-old had vacationed all over the place — South American, Jamaica, Cuba, the U.S. His best friend, Frank Kay, is "a homebody," says Sadie Maloney, Kay's wife. "So he's never the first one to say 'yep, let's go.'"

We don't know a lot about Marko.- Det. Sgt. Steve Bereziuk

"Frank was like 'we have tons of time. We'll figure it out,'" Sadie said. "That was the only thing they didn't get to do."

As it turned out, time was the last thing they had. Bakir was shot and killed at his west Mountain home Thursday night. He was targeted, police say, although they don't yet know why.

Now they're looking for leads, and Bakir's grieving friends and family are left to live with the mystery.

So far, public details are scant. Police say a neighbour found Bakir lying in the driveway of his west Mountain home around 8:45 p.m. Several residents reported hearing loud bangs they believed to be shots.

Bakir was shot multiple times at 238 Clifton Downs Rd., police say. Emergency crews tried to save him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. His funeral was this weekend.

Bakir lived in a $580,000 home, property records show, and had several vehicles. He wasn't known to police before he was shot, said Det. Sgt. Bereziuk of Hamilton Police Service. Family and friends are working with police, he said, and being as helpful as they can.

"We do have some investigative theories as to what happened, and right now, we're pursuing those theories," Bereziuk said. "We do have some direction and focus in this case."

But "we just have a lot of background information to do on the victim," he said. "We don't know a lot about Marko. "

Theories have run rampant online, including Bakir being involved with illegal activity such as drugs. Bereziuk said given the circumstances, it's "a bit of a natural question." But police are exploring all angles, he said.

Those rumours incense Maloney, who's anxious to clear her friend's name. Bakir was in a near fatal motorcycle crash in 2011, she said. He recently got a long-awaited financial settlement from that. That's what allowed him to buy a home and a luxury vehicle, and take trips such as the one he would have taken with Kay.

"He wasn't a gang banger," she said of Bakir. "He wasn't a thug at all. He got a second chance at life and he'd finally started to enjoy life. He had the means to have things he'd always hoped he could have.

"He was an amazing man and the best friend that anybody could ask for. Anybody you talk to would say he was the most positive and uplifting guy you could ever meet in your life."

Bakir was in a coma for 25 days after the 2011 crash, said brother-in-law Aras Ahmed Kadir. It took him years to recover. He loved fitness, and motorcycles, and fine food, he said. "He wanted to fulfil life as much as possible."

In the front row of Friday prayers

"His dream was to own a house with a pool in the backyard. He wanted to own a Lamborghini." Beyond that, Ahmed Kadir said, he wanted a family.

Bakir's Facebook lists his occupation as "Sales/Marketing at Century Fitness Upper Wentworth." It also features photos of his Rottweiler Rex, who he'd had since high school, and his Doberman Diamond. The dogs, Maloney said, were his babies. 

Bakir loved spending time with his young niece and nephew, Ahmed Kadir said. He never missed Friday prayers at the Hamilton Mountain mosque. Any time they went together, "he would tell me to hurry and be there quick because he wanted to be in the front row."

"People always assumed he was involved in criminal activity because of his lavish lifestyle, but he was able to obtain that because he worked hard for it," Ahmed Kadir said. "He earned it."

"He was a religious person. He loved to pray. He loved God."