Toronto - Tibetan youth stabbed to death trying to stop a fight, police say Phayul[Wednesday, March 12, 2014 08:57] By Kalsang Rinchen Undated picture of the victim/Toronto Police Undated picture of the victim/Toronto Police New York, March 11 – A 22 year old Tibetan Canadian youth has been stabbed to death in the wee hours of Sunday in Toronto, where a few thousand Tibetans have found their new homes in exile. Police are looking for a 17 to 20-year-old Tibetan man with short dark hair in connection with the stabbing, police said. The victim has been identified as Tenzin Tseten, Toronto police told reporters Tuesday. “Mr. Tseten was an employed young man with tight family ties and as you can well imagine his family is devastated and is struggling to understand how a New Year’s celebration could descend into murder,” Det. Sgt. Pauline Gray told reporters Tuesday afternoon. Police say Tseten, who was fatally stabbed at a Tibetan New Year’s celebration was trying to break up a fight at the time of his death and may not have even known the person who stabbed him. Tseten was stabbed in the chest during brawl outside the Tibetan Cultural Centre on Titan Road near Islington Avenue and The Queensway at around 3:30 a.m. Sunday. Tseten was rushed with fatal injuries to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after, reports say. A second victim was also injured in the melee and was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after being pulled over for speeding nearby, police say. Gray told reporters that the police will go through video footage from the “numerous cameras” in the area surrounding the crime scene to identify the suspect. Det. Sgt. Pauline Gray (homicide) talks about stabbing incident outside the Tibetan Cultural Centre on Sunday that led to the death of a 22 year old Tenzin Tsetan, March 11, 2014 (CP24 screenshot) Det. Sgt. Pauline Gray (homicide) talks about stabbing incident outside the Tibetan Cultural Centre on Sunday that led to the death of a 22 year old Tenzin Tsetan, March 11, 2014 (CP24 screenshot) “There was a large crowd outside, it was fairly cold and they may have been aware that there was a fight, but they are probably not aware that it turned into a stabbing and ultimately a murder,” Gray told reporters. “I am encouraging those people to come and speak to me. I don’t know if they have information directly related to the murder, but I certainly know that they have information related to what the original fight was about and that sort of thing.” Gray said police have also spoken to a handful of witnesses, including several other people who tried to break up the fight, but added that many other witnesses likely left the scene without speaking to officers and are unaware of the homicide investigation. The description of the suspect is based on several witness accounts, Gray said. Meanwhile, reactions to the incident among Tibetans have been largely sad. However, some have expressed their disappointment over the incident calling it a disrepute to the Tibetan name. This incident takes place less than 2 days after the Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke about the need for us Tibetans in the west to uphold Tibetan tradition of compassion and kindness rooted deep in the Tibetan Buddhist culture, Tsering Dorjee, a Tibetan living in New York said. Why are the community leaders in Toronto silent about this tragic incident at the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre? The leadership must condemn this violence and call upon the members of the community to cooperate with the police, writes Nima Dorjee, a Tibetan Canadian from Calgary, on Facebook. The community leadership needs to request the public to co-operate with the police and provide any and all information related to the case to the authorities. We must take our civic responsibilities seriously. One family has suffered an irreplaceable loss today and it will be morally irresponsible not to do the right thing, writes Tenpa Dhargyal, a Tibetan Canadian who resides in Toronto.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 09:14:44 +0000