Police say downtown Kitchener homicide had multiple witnesses as search continues for shooter

Waterloo Regional Police believe about 10 people witnessed a homicide in downtown Kitchener as the search continues for the shooter.

The shooting occurred outside of a business at a plaza at Queen Street and Charles Street on Aug. 13 around 10:20 p.m.

Video was released on Aug. 23, showing the suspect arrive to the scene on a white motorized scooter prior to the shooting.

Police had previously said the suspect was known to frequent the plaza at 91 Queen Street South and that the shooting was believed to be targeted. The suspect remains outstanding at this time.

The suspect is described as a Black male, who was wearing a baseball hat, a two-toned hooded jacket, dark pants, and white shoes.

The victim in the shooting was an 18-year-old Kitchener man. A GoFundMe, set up for the victim’s family, identified him as Joshua Tarnue.

Kyle Lambert is inspector of criminal investigations with the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) and told CityNews 570 what transpired leading up to the murder.

“Our victim was outside of a business in the area of Queen Street and Charles Street and there was an altercation that took place in the parking lot area. As a result of the altercation, he was shot and later [pronounced] deceased after [being] taken to a local hospital.”

Lambert said investigators believe at least 10 people directly saw the shooting and while police have spoken with some of the individuals, there have been challenges.

“We have identified a number of the witnesses, we would say there were at least 10 but it looks like there could be more that either directly witnessed the shooting [or] were in and around that close vicinity of that parking lot that would’ve seen the males that were involved in this altercation,” said Lambert. “We have been able to identify a couple of the people and we have interviewed those people and we’ve had varying levels of cooperation with it.”

Lambert said in addition to the varying levels of cooperation, police think there’s more people that have information that would assist with the homicide investigation that haven’t come forward.

“We need people that are not only willing to come forward, but provide an honest account of what took place,” said Lambert.

He added police are continuing to gather surveillance video from some of the other businesses in the area and there is a dedicated team working intensely on the case.

Anyone with information on the homicide investigation to call the WRPS Major Crime Unit tip line at 519-570-9777 ext. 8191. Anonymous tips can be left with Crime Stoppers.

Our Major Crime Unit is continuing to investigate a Kitchener homicide.

More: https://t.co/nPRqrDfOoN.

Investigators believe this incident was directly witnessed by multiple people and are appealing for anyone with info to call police or @WaterlooCrime.

Occ: 23-233325 (901) https://t.co/PqIabP29ag pic.twitter.com/3YObP1xFYm

— Waterloo Regional Police (@WRPSToday) August 23, 2023