A 25-year-old Toronto man shot dead outside an after-hours club was targeted by two killers using different guns and had an extensive criminal history, detectives said Wednesday.
"This was a targeted execution," Detective Tam Bui of the Asian Organized Crime task force told reporters.
Thuan (Tony) Nguyen was shot five times and was found face down in the parking lot of the North York club shortly after 5 a.m. Sunday.
He was well-known to police and had a long criminal record connected to the drug trade.
Investigators are now seeking two dark-coloured, new-looking sedans, both possibly rented, spotted near the crime scene. Police have posted security-camera footage here.
Mr. Nguyen's body was discovered behind the Vy Vy Restaurant and Lounge at 435 Signet Drive.
The nightclub is an after-hours venue popular with Vietnamese patrons, near Steeles Avenue West and Weston Road, and was crowded at the time of the shooting.
It sits in a busy commercial-industrial section of North York.
It has no particular criminal associations, police said; rather, Mr. Nguyen had just been visiting the place shortly before he was slain.
His death was Toronto's ninth homicide so far this year.
At the time of his death, Mr. Nguyen was on bail under house arrest, accused of possessing cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.