Up to $100K reward for tips leading to Toronto man's arrest

Up to $100,000 in cash is up for grabs for tips that help police arrest a Toronto man wanted for alleged murder.

Toronto police have been looking for Michael Bebee since last year, in connection with the shooting death of Shamar Powell-Flowers on July 23, 2023 in Toronto's east end.

On Tuesday, he was ranked the most wanted man in the country by the Bolo Program, a project run by the Stéphan Crétier Foundation charity, which helps raise awareness about the country's most wanted.

"Our investigators have no doubt there are people out there who know where Michael Bebee has been hiding since Shamar was killed," said Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw at a news conference Tuesday.

In an update to the investigation last fall, police said Powell-Flowers, who was with friends at the time, was shot after he intervened in an "altercation" that took place near Danforth and Carlaw avenues. At the time of Shamar's death, Michael Bebee was under a gun prohibition for his part in another Toronto shooting four years earlier, Demkiw said. 

"We're not looking for witnesses to testify in court, and thanks to the guarantee of anonymity provided by Crime Stoppers, we're not even looking for your name. We just need the tips," said Demkiw. 

The cash is part of a $1 million pot by the Bolo Program, which listed five other suspects from Toronto on its top 25 most wanted list for this year. It also includes Deshawn Davis, one suspect named in the alleged kidnapping of Elnaz Hajtamiri.

In the six years the program has been running, 58 people have been featured on its list and 21 of them have been located, said Bolo director Maxime Langlois. The reward money expires in December. 

In a statement, the Powell-Flowers family said they're asking the public to "show us the good in this world that Shamar always saw, but we struggle to see now."

"For nine months, we have been crippled not only by grief, but by the realization that there are people out there who could help us, but who instead have chosen to remain silent," the statement reads.

"People who could step up as our amazing Shamar would have stepped up for them had the tables been turned, had someone not chosen to carry a gun and fire a shot that left a hole in his heart and our hearts and the hearts of so many others."

Powell-Flowers known for his love, family says

His family described Powell-Flowers as a "remarkable light" who loved food, his family, the Arsenal Football Club and his dog Rocco.

"Shamar loved his friends, family, neighbours, strangers. He loved helping, giving, celebrating, serving. He loved working, learning, trying, achieving," the family said.

The family said Powell-Flowers was a construction engineer, hard-working and ambitious. He was known to be brave, loyal, intelligent and generous, with a smile they said "lit up the universe."

"Shamar loved living, and we loved Shamar, as did so many others who lived and worked alongside him, who learned from him, were helped by him, enriched by him, lifted up by him, inspired by him," his family said.

"He was a guardian angel and guiding star who was always trying to save others. How cruel it is that this loving and beloved man, our Shamar, could not be saved himself, and was left to die alone."

The family left a message to those who know where Bebee is, saying Shamar would have given them the "benefit of the doubt."

"So we are trying the same," they said.

"Maybe you've been scared. Maybe you didn't realize our extraordinary pain. Maybe you thought this arrest wouldn't matter. But here we are, nine months later, locked in place, drowning in despair, and pleading for someone to release us from this agony and allow us to take the next step forward in this most awful journey."

Police are asking anyone with information to contact officers or submit a tip anonymously to Crime Stoppers.