He was scooped up in the wave of arrests last year that stemmed from the Jane Creba murder investigation and convicted of cocaine possession. He was shot dead on a busy street Sunday afternoon after visiting an acquaintance being held in Toronto's Don Jail.
But beyond saying they are sure Eric Boateng, 21, was targeted and ambushed by a gunman who hurried away on foot, police yesterday conceded that so far they have little idea why Mr. Boateng was killed.
"There could be a multitude of reasons, it's very early in the investigation," said Detective Dan Nielsen of the homicide squad.
"What we know is that he attended the Don Jail for a visit, that when he left he was confronted about a block away and that the person who confronted him shot him multiple times."
There is no shortage of theories to pursue.
Unmarried, without children and with no fixed address, Mr. Boateng was one of 25 people arrested in surveillance-driven police raids that followed the killing on Boxing Day, 2005, of Toronto teenager Jane Creba, an innocent passerby in what's believed to have been a gangland shootout on Yonge Street.
Six other people were wounded in the gun battle, which became a metaphor for the worst year of gun homicides the city had ever seen.
Mr. Boateng was not among the seven people charged with murder and manslaughter in the death of the Grade 10 Riverdale Collegiate student. But he was accused of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and was sentenced in August to the equivalent of 28 months in jail plus a year's probation.
He was originally charged with conspiracy to traffic in firearms but that charge was stayed.
Under the two-for-one practice whereby pre-trial time spent in custody is doubled up, Mr. Boateng was then released from custody.
He was killed Sunday as he walked to his car after visiting the Don Jail.
Whether he would have testified at the Creba trial is unclear, as is the role in Sunday's shooting - if any - of his underworld drug friends. As for the inmate he was visiting, Det. Nielsen would not identify the man but said he has been questioned and is part of the investigation.
Sunday's audacious attack near the intersection of Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street East left neighbours shaken and raised Toronto's homicide tally for the year to 70 - one more than the total recorded for all of 2006.
But initial reports that the gunman was one of a group are now being played down.
"There's nothing right now to connect them to the shooting," Det. Nielsen said.
Police are seeking a suspect described as black, in his 20s, medium build, between 5-foot-8 and 6 feet, wearing a black bomber-style jacket and last seen running south on Hamilton Street, south of Gerrard Street.