Male victim dies as Hamilton cops probe another downtown shooting

Shooting came less than week after teen boy was accused of gunning down another teen inside busy mall

Published Apr 30, 2026  •  Last updated 5 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

A Hamilton Police car. Photo by Michael Peake /Toronto Sun

Hamilton Police are investigating another fatal shooting in the city’s downtown core less than a week after a teen boy was accused of gunning down another teen inside a busy mall.

Cops said just after 7 p.m. on Thursday that they responded to a shooting in the Main St. W. and Caroline St. area, which is about a block away from city hall and little more than two blocks away from Jackson Square, the downtown mall that connects to TD Coliseum and lies across the street from the central transit hub.

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They said a victim was found with life-threatening injuries and emergency personnel transported them to a hospital, while urging the public to avoid the area.

Hamilton Police identified 16-year-old Nabil Askafe as the person shot and killed inside the Jackson Square mall on Friday, April 25, 2026. Photo by Handout /Hamilton Police

Police suspect others were injured

In a release issued before 10 p.m., they said a male victim died a “short time later” and they believed there “may be more injured parties who fled the scene.

It was the city’s third homicide of the year.

“We ask residents in the area of Main St. W. and Caroline St. to please review their CCTV cameras for anything suspicious and report it to police,” cops said on the social media site X, urging anyone with information to contact them at 905-546-4725.

The incident came four days after a 14-year-old boy wanted for murder surrendered to police in the shooting death of a 16-year-old male, who was gunned down last Friday inside Jackson Square.

Police said last week that surveillance footage showed the victim walking along King St. from Hess St., less than a block away from where Thursday’s shooting occurred, before a “small interaction” took place and continued into the mall.

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Police identified Nabil Askafe, 16, who lived in Hamilton but whose family had recently emigrated from Syria, as the victim of last week’s shooting.

Hamilton Police Chief Frank Bergen said Sunday that the incident was “deeply troubling,” adding it was “not just a police matter,” but a “community call to action.

“We should all be concerned when violence becomes an option for youth instead of resolution and hope,” he said.

Police said anyone with information about Thursday’s fatal shooting can also contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 or crimestoppershamilton.com.

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