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Police tape marks a crime scene in this file photo.JOHN LEHMANN/The Globe and Mail

He was a fixture in Toronto's west end, where he drifted from one place to another and always knew someone who could give him temporary lodging and odd jobs to help him earn pocket money.

Around 2:30 on Saturday morning, Jorge Interiano was brutally beaten near Bloor Street West and Concord Ave. after leaving neighbourhood bar. Two unidentified attackers fled the scene, police allege, leaving their victim with life-threatening injuries. Toronto Police issued a news release on Sunday, saying Mr. Interiano, 40, had died in hospital. He was the city's 28th homicide victim.

Homicide detectives are searching for two men, in their late teens or early 20s and are also going through security camera images recovered from surrounding businesses, Detective Sergeant Terry Browne said in an interview. He said police are also appealing to anyone in the area just west of the popular Ossington Ave. strip who might have witnessed the altercation between Mr. Interiano and the two men.

Det-Sgt. Browne said Mr. Interiano sustained blunt force injuries to his head and neck, but he does not know what precipitated the assault. He said Mr. Interiano was a loner - he came to Canada from South America 20 years ago and had no family here. But he said Mr. Interiano was not someone who would go looking for trouble.

"People are kind of beside themselves on how this could have happened to him," he said. "He really appears to have been a kind and gentle soul who was embraced by the community at large."

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