TORONTO AMBER ALERT

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A Toronto police detective personalized a plea to a man believed to be on the run with his two-year-old son -- an act that has triggered an amber alert.

"What's important right now is his son," Det. Steve Ryan told reporters Saturday.

"What's done is done ... but as a dad I'd make a plea to him to do the right thing and bring his boy to a place of safety."

In a statement released Saturday, police said they are looking for Sammy Kassim, who is described as black, 40 pounds, 3-feet tall, with brown eyes and black curly hair.

The boy is believed to be in the company of a 30-year-old man, who is described as six-foot-two, 220 pounds, with a shaved head. He is missing his right thumb and was last seen wearing a white sweater with a red pattern on it.

Police said Amin Kassim is wanted for questioning following an early-morning homicide of a 23-year-old woman.

The woman -- believed to be the boy's mother -- was found shot and killed in a downtown Toronto apartment.

Ryan said the woman had obvious signs of trauma to her body.

Later Saturday morning, a taxi driver reported he had been shot at by a man travelling with a boy, police said in the statement.

Taxi company officials said the man was resting at home.

The news of the killing shattered the dead woman's family.

Salhiya Sammy, who identified herself as the dead woman's cousin, sobbed as she said: "She's very nice and she don't deserve this. I don't know how people kill this kind of person."

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Toronto police at 416-808-7000 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS.

An Amber Alert is issued in cases of suspected child abduction during the first five hours after a child is reported missing. This happened at 11:23 a.m. EDT.

But in an unusual development, police extended the alert until midnight Saturday.

Ryan said police are been pleased with the help they've received from the public.

"The public's very interested. Anytime you not only have a homicide and a two-year-old son that's been taken from his home and his mother, there's lots of interest," he said.

Tips have come in from Barrie, about 90 kilometres north of Toronto, to Hamilton, about 55 kilometres southwest.

The Amber Alert system is used across North America when police suspect a child has been abducted and their life is in danger.

The alert quickly disseminates information to highway billboards, broadcasters and newspapers.

The system is named after nine-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was abducted and murdered in Texas in 1996.

[Sher]

Toronto police confirmed that the mother of a missing two-year-old boy died of gunshot wounds to the head, as they kept up the search for the toddler and his father.

"At this point I am very hopeful that Sammy is still alive and that is why it is so important that if anyone knows where he is, to contact us," Det. Sgt. Kathryn Martin told reporters at a press conference in Toronto on Sunday.

While police are also looking for the man believed to be Sammy's father, the investigation's focus is on finding the toddler, she said.

An Amber Alert was issued for the missing toddler Saturday morning after police discovered he was missing, but it was not renewed about 12 hours later because of a lack of new tips, the Toronto Star reported.

However, the police are still looking for the boy and the man believed to be on the run with his son. Martin told reporters she believes they may still be in the Greater Toronto Area.

Police began looking for the man and child following an early-Saturday morning homicide of a 23-year-old woman, who police believe to be his estranged-common-law wife and Sammy's mother.

She was found shot and killed in a downtown Toronto apartment.

In what police consider to be a related event, a taxi driver reported he had been shot at by a man travelling with a boy Saturday morning.

Fearing for the toddler's safety, police released a statement asking for the public's help in finding Sammy Kassim, who is described as black, 40 pounds, 3-feet tall, with brown eyes and black curly hair.

The boy is believed to be in the company of 30-year-old Amin Kassim, who is described as six-foot-two, 220 pounds, with a shaved head. He was last seen wearing a red-and-white sweater. He is known to frequent the Brantford area, and also goes by the name Omar.

Initially, police reported the man's right thumb was missing but a man who identified himself as Abdi Mohamed, Kassim's cousin, claimed that this was not the case, the Star reported.

There have been conflicting reports on the relationship between Kassim and the dead woman.

"My understanding is that they were estranged but they were still living in the same apartment," Det. Sgt. Martin said.


Meanwhile, relatives of the missing man expressed disbelief after hearing of the day's events.

"He's a really good guy," Mohamed said of his cousin.

Later, he added: "Amin would never hurt his son, he'd protect that kid with his life."

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Toronto police at 416-808-7000 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS.

An Amber Alert is issued in cases of suspected child abduction during the first five hours after a child is reported missing. This happened at 11:23 a.m. EDT.

But in an unusual development, police extended the alert until midnight Saturday.

Tips have come in from Barrie, about 90 kilometres north of Toronto, to Hamilton, about 55 kilometres southwest.

The Amber Alert system is used across North America when police suspect a child has been abducted and their life is in danger.

The alert quickly disseminates information to highway billboards, broadcasters and newspapers.

The system is named after nine-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was abducted and murdered in Texas in 1996.

[Sher]

[glow=red,2,300]A VERY HAPPY ENDING FOR THE FAMILY OF THIS LITTLE ONE[/glow]

A man suspected of his estranged common-law wife's murder has been arrested -- and his two-year-old son has been safely recovered, Toronto police say.

Amin Mohammed Kassim, 30, has been charged with first degree murder in the death of Muluka Hassan-Ali, 23.

Emergency task force officers arrested Amin at an high-rise apartment in the northern part of the city Sunday night, said Det. Kathryn Martin at a news conference Sunday night.

"He'll be appearing in College Park courthouse tomorrow morning," she said.

There was a woman in the apartment with him, but Martin said she didn't anticipate any more charges being laid.

"I'm happy to say that two-year-old Sammy was also found ... at a different location in Toronto," she said.

The boy is in good health but is being checked over at a hospital, Martin said, adding the Children's Aid Society will ultimately decide who gets custody of the boy.

CTV News Toronto reported Sammy was found at his grandfather's apartment and that he was dropped off there by someone other than Amin.

"I'm kinda happy that Sammy's all right," Abdi Kassim, Amin's brother, told CTV News Toronto.

"I love him and I feel sorry for my brother, what he has to go through."

Family's plea

Amin's family had begged him Sunday to surrender both himself and his toddler son.

"Please, Amin, please," Entesar Kassim told her brother through CTV News.

"Come back Amin, give your hand to police, your son (Sammy) too," said his sobbing mother, Badriya Kassim.

A Canada-wide warrant had been issued for the man's arrest.

Amin's family called 911 early Saturday after receiving a call from him.

Later, police discovered the body of Ali, 23, in a downtown Toronto apartment. She had been shot in the head several times. Her son was missing.

A taxi driver alleges he was shot at early Saturday morning by a man who had a small boy with him.

Toronto police launched an Amber Alert Saturday, in an attempt to recover Sammy as quickly as possible. The alert expired at midnight Saturday, but the search continued Sunday.

[Sher]

TORONTO -- An Islamic tapestry hung over the simple casket of Sammy Kassim's mother yesterday in a sombre conclusion to a frantic two-day search that returned the toddler to safety and saw his father charged with first-degree murder.

Just hours before prayers and tears were offered for 23-year-old Muluka Hassan-Ali at a Toronto mosque, Sammy's father, Amin Mohammed Kassim, appeared in court looking bewildered and overwhelmed as he scanned the room with wide, childlike eyes.

A Canadawide warrant was issued for Kassim's arrest Saturday after police found his estranged wife dead of multiple gunshot wounds to the head and the two-year-old boy missing.

Yesterday, headscarves barely concealed the tears of female mourners from Toronto's Ethiopian community inside the mosque, where friends gathered to mourn a shy woman they said wanted a better life for her two-year-old boy.

"Oh, my Mulaka, I'm so sorry," friend Colleen Biggart cried out before breaking down outside the mosque.

"She just wanted her and her son to be safe. She was trying to leave the country. She was planning to go to the States with her family there," said Biggart.

The slain woman's brother stood silently outside the mosque while his sister's body was cleaned, dressed and prepared for burial, his reddened eyes betraying the hard expression on his face.

A group of men stood with him, offering to speak for a friend too distraught for words.

Kassim, 30, was arrested by tactical officers at a Toronto apartment complex late Sunday. Sammy was found in good health at another home a short time later, police said.