 |
| Alejandro Vivar/Toronto Star file photo |
On Saturday, just before 9 a.m., officers responded to reports of a shooting with multiple people injured at Bloor St. W. and Christie St. They arrived and found a man shot in the stomach with life-threatening injuries and another with serious injuries after being shot during the fitness class. Both men were transported to hospital.
Police have released a photo of a suspect, who was participating in the fitness class, police say. He is described as a black man, 25 to 30-years-old, five-foot-eight to five-foot-nine with short cornrows that were visible from beneath his baseball cap.
Darnell Simpson, a trainer, said that Alejandro Vivar, 35, his partner in the non-profit organization, 25/7 Fitness, was “shot numerous times.” Police have not identified either victim in the shooting.
The class, Prison Pump, was started by Vivar, who also goes by the name Jose. He earned his Personal Training Specialist certification while in prison and was released from Bath Institution correctional facility in March, according to the website for 25/7 Fitness. In May he started the fitness camp, described on the website as a “penitentiary inspired workout that prisoners use to get lean and muscular and come out of prison recreated; mentally and physically.”
In 2004, a jury found Vivar, then 23, and another man not guilty in the execution-style slaying of Gary Malo outside a cafe on Bloor Street West. Malo, who police say was a member of the Christie Boys gang, as reported in The Star at the time, was shot once in the chest and once in the head at close range at a restaurant called Jose’s Café, situated near Bloor and Christie, an area that was known at the time to be riddled with gang activity.
Police said at the time Vivar was a gang leader, of the Latin Americanos, also known as the L.A. Boys street gang that started in the area now known as Koreatown.
In 2007, Vivar and nine other men were arrested in a drug-trafficking investigation. He was convicted of multiple gun and drug charges.
John Struthers, who has been Vivar’s criminal defence lawyer since 2004 said he had kept in contact with Vivar, and said he was “really trying” to turn his life around.
“Clearly then, he was targeted,” Struthers said “I really think he was straight and doing well… (He) was determined to make a good life.”
During his time in prison, Struthers said that Vivar wrote to him often expressing his excitement for his future fitness business. Vivar also wrote a prison diary for The Kingston Whig-Standard.
“For those who don’t know, I entered prison a gangster, convicted of serious crimes. It was the only lifestyle I knew for as long as I can remember,” Vivar’s last blog entry reads. “Then years went by… my parents aged, I myself grew older and began to learn about myself, my weaknesses, my insecurities, and as time went on realized the things I needed to do to change.”
The day that Vivar was released, he paid a visit to Struthers, who said he was ready to restart his life.
“This is one reason why it’s so hard to get out of the lifestyle. You remain in danger,” Struthers said. “I’ve been a defence lawyer for 30 years and I’ve lost maybe 15 or 20 clients or former clients to violence.”
In his ‘Prison diary’ entries, Vivar shares his thoughts on how prison has changed his life for the better and how being there has shaped his dreams of being a writer, going back to school and being a better person.
According to police, the victim that sustained life-threatening injuries has since had surgery, and is in stable condition. The condition of the second victim is not known.
“When I was arrested, it was as if everything happened in slow motion I saw everything that was important to me.” Vivar wrote in April 2015. “If it were not for that night, I truly believe I would not be the person I am today. I would not have dreams of being a writer and going back to school and there would definitely be no Prison Diary. I would not have made the promise to live life to its full potential, to appreciate every single day, whether in prison or not. And to love life and cherish the people who care for me.”
With files from Laura Beeston, Betsy Powell, and Peter Small Toronto Star
