last link on the left › deadmonton

Nasir Mohamad Said, 22, died of a single gunshot wound on September 16th, 2008.

Said was Edmonton's nineteenth homicide victim of the year.

Case status is open and active.

Police continue to investigate the murder of Nasir Mohamad Said, a 22-year-old man from Toronto.

At about 6:45 a.m. on September 16th, 2008 a man was discovered dying in the playground at Balwin School, near 132nd Avenue just west of 70th Street.

Early reports indicated the victim, described as a black male, slender with short hair and in his late teens or early twenties, had his hands tied behind his back. The person who found him said he was face down and covered in blood.

Still in shock after her discovery, the woman who found the body was interviewed by media. She asked her identity be concealed out of concern for her family's safety.

"I said, 'Oh my God, there's a body there,' " she said. "I walked away. I felt I was going to throw up. I wish I had not come to work."

The woman, who lives nearby, was part of a construction team working on renovating Balwin school. She found the body close to some storage containers behind the building.

"I took a quick glance. I saw blood. I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible," she added.

The woman said she heard what sounded like "a bunch of drunk guys," then heard a woman scream at about 2:30 a.m., something not unusual for the area.

"I didn't think anything of it because of the neighbourhood." Looking out her window, she saw nothing. "There's no lights on that part of the school."

She also said she recognised the victim as a resident of the Village Acres apartment complex, someone who tried to talk to her son a couple of times while they were out walking.

Village Acres management later said Said was not a registered tenant in the 17-apartment block complex.

Asked to confirm early reports the man was found with his hands tied behind his back, the woman too shaken to remember. Police wouldn't confirm details of what condition the body was in.

The city block-sized school ground was secured by crime scene tape as children attended classes nearby. School staff ensured that students were kept away from the area during recesses and lunch.

Insp. Terry Rocchio said police were called to the school by someone who reported that there was an injured man at the back of the building. The man was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Homicide detectives are leading the investigation and are appealing to the public for information leading to the identity of the victim.

Balwin school, which serves students from kindergarten to grade nine, was undergoing renovations. Construction crews reporting for work were told activity was suspended for the day as the investigation continued.

"Most of our work area's cordoned off so there's nothing we can do," carpenter John Beaton said. He saw the body when he first arrived for work.

"I set my lunch kit on the fuel tank of the job shack and you could see the body right there," Beaton said.

The worker took it upon himself to put up caution tape to keep students from going around to the back of the school.

School officials decided not to close the school, a decision questioned by some parents. However, teachers interviewed by media indicated that students seemed to take the day's events in stride.

The body remained on site until about 12:30 p.m. when it was removed by staff from the medical examiner's office.

Metro Edmonton found an ear-witness to the morning's events.

The sound of gunfire got Christy Woloshyniuk out of bed but said she didn't think much of it given where she lives.

"My mom got me out of bed and asked me what was going on because she heard it, too," she said.

"There's always gunshots around here," she said. "We usually see gangsters walking around here in the middle of the night, and don't think much of it. I don't want to raise my baby in this neighbourhood."

The 17-year-old girl, seven months pregnant, said that the closer her due date becomes, the more she wants to move.

"Thank God it wasn't my brother, because he was supposed to come home last night and didn't. My mom and I were worried about it."

"I heard three shots really close together, then a guy hollering and cars racing to get away really fast," Christy's mother Joann said. "It felt that it was that close that someone was in my yard."

Police had yet to confirm whether or not shots were fired overnight.

On September 17th authorities identified the victim as Nasir Mohamad Said, a 22-year-old from Toronto.

An autopsy showed that Said died of a single gunshot wound and investigators believed his death was drug-related. Police later said he was shot where he was found.

Identification of the man was made through fingerprint analysis. He wasn't known to police in Edmonton but he was wanted on several outstanding warrants in Ontario.

Toronto police said the warrants were for minor and non-drug related issues but they did not want to disclose specific details of why he was wanted.

Police said they have no suspects in Said's murder and had yet determine where he was living in Edmonton. An appeal was made asking anyone who knew where Said may have been living in the weeks prior to his death to call police.

Said was the second former Torontonian murdered in the Edmonton metropolitan area in a month.

On August 30th, 2008 24-year-old Mohamed Ali Ibrahim was shot in the back of the head outside the River Cree Casino, west of Edmonton. RCMP had yet to name any suspects in his death.

The fact that two recent homicides had involved men from out of town prompted reaction from Edmonton police chief Mike Boyd.

"I don't think there's anything exceptional going on with these recent crimes," Boyd said. "We've seen this type of trans-national organised crime before, freely moving throughout the country."

Boyd said Alberta has seen its fair share of people with criminal records moving here from other parts of Canada.

"As it relates to this case in particular, I really can't confirm that. It's early at this point," Boyd said of the investigation.

"We talk about organised crime in our province and organised crime in other provinces and how freely they travel back and forth between provinces and across the country. It is a concern for policing and that's why we've increased our efforts around organised crime."

Stony Plain RCMP Const. Barb Roy said there were no apparent links between the Ibrahim and Said homicides.

It was later revealed that Said was a short-term resident of Fort McMurray and had been charged there with obstruction, personation, theft and failing to attend court. The man had other outstanding charges related to a drug trafficking incident stemming from an occurrence on July 30th, 2008, according to an RCMP statement.

The fact that Said's body was found in a public area where it would be quickly discovered led some observers to feel his death was a message to others involved in the gang and drug culture.

The Edmonton Police Service web site entry for Nasir Mohamad Said can be seen here.

deadmonton 2008 - nasir mohamad said