Toronto Police are searching for the killer of the son of a prominent Black community leader and activist who was gunned down in a shooting that left two others injured.

Police said officers responded around 10:26 p.m. on August 14 to reports of multiple gunshots near the intersection of Martha Eaton Way and Trethewey Drive.

When they arrived, they found three people with gunshot wounds. Police said two men were taken to hospital and a third pronounced dead.

The deceased man was identified as Jerome Jean-Louis Sylvester, 42, of Toronto, police said.

He is described as a father and family man by his loved ones.

The wounded men are identified as a 29-year-old from Toronto, and a 57-year-old man from Brampton. Kingsley Gilliam, of the Black Action Defence Committee, said Sylvester is the son of Valarie Steele, a long-time Black community leader, advocate and activist.

Gilliam in a statement said Sylvester was ‘dropping off food for his mother at her Martha Eaton Way apartment building when he was killed.’

“A vehicle drove up and sprayed Jerome and the surroundings with bullets,” according to Gilliam. “He died on the spot and two other men some distance apart were wounded.”

He said ‘shots even reached the second floor of the apartment building.’

The shooter sped away. Police have released a photograph of a vehicle used as a getaway car.

Funeral Services for Sylvester took place at New Haven Funeral Centre Inc. in Mississauga on August 31.

Steele in her eulogy called for an end to gun violence which she said ‘has taken far too many lives of our young men.’

She called on the gunmen to ‘put down their guns and come to the community table where they can transition to new lives as contributing members of the community.’

A Go Fund Me page has been created to help the family. So far more than $223,000 has been raised to help with the funeral and other expenses.

Officiating Rev. Ojo  Tewogbade had married Jerome Sylvester and Joy Steele in 2015.

Tewogbade spoke about gun violence in the Black community drawing from his experience as a former 27 year member of the Toronto Police Service and as a pastor and chaplain dealing with the victims of gun violence.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 416-808-7400.