HUNTER EXCLUSIVE: Two murdered sons, two empty seats at Christmas

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This Christmas will be the sixth that Anthony McBean Sr. has carefully prepared a place for his son at the holiday table.

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But Andre Phoenix’s seat will never be occupied again.

This year, an extra place at the table will be empty. That’s where his brother, Anthony McBean Jr., would have been sitting.

Instead, like a gaping hole in the heart, neither son will be physically present.

Both were murdered on the streets of Toronto.

Cops say they know who shot Anthony Jr., 42, on September 30, 2024, in a public square at Jane St. and Lawrence Ave. W. Arrest warrants have been issued for second degree murder for Ricardo Manuel Bailey, 35, and Debbie Jones, 42.

Homicide detectives believe the two men fled to Jamaica.

But it’s the August 15, 2018 murder of Andre Phoenix that haunts Anthony McBean Sr. It remains unsolved.

“Andre was completely innocent,” said Det. Const. Andrew Doyle, of the Cold Case Unit, said The Toronto Sun. “He was an upstanding citizen with a wonderful life ahead of him. It was just insane.

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His father told Sun that André was a “big kid” who blossomed into a “big person.”

“He was the go-getter of the house. Even now I go to the basement and knock on his door and realize he’s not there. I can’t describe the pain,” McBean Sr. said, adding that it was “hard.”

“With my other son dying from the same violence, there is at least some closure, but you never get over it… it’s like a part of your heart is taken away. It’s like a double whammy, it’s too much.

At the time of the murder, Phoenix was an employee and the father of an 18-month-old baby girl. She will never know him except through photos and family lore.

He was walking through a Martin Grove Road parking lot. place when a car approached him. One of the occupants opened fire, firing several bullets.

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The light-colored four-door sedan then fled westbound on John Garland Boulevard. Phoenix later died at a local hospital. It remains unclear why he was in the area or the purpose of his visit.

Murder leaves a dirty wake. Unsaid things, unanswered questions and a haunting that lasts for generations. This is the fate of the McBean family.

“I ask myself: ‘Why?’ Why?’ Christmas has been a lot different the last six years,” said McBean Sr. “Revenge is out of the question. I always have sympathy in my heart, you know? But how could you just look at a person and start shooting them?

“And go.”

This is unfortunately the world we live in today. Decency has taken its place, replaced by bloodlust and the bravado of low rents.

The devastated father is among the legion of Canadians who believe the government has been far too soft on criminals – particularly those who use guns – for far too long.

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“If you possess an illegal weapon, the sentence should be 25 years, automatically. The system needs to change and people need to speak out. It’s not about race, we are all human beings created by God and we need justice,” McBean Sr. added.

“It’s getting worse and worse. But no one says anything, no one talks about it.

The father could talk about any of the hundreds of homicides committed in this country, but he always comes back to the pain of his own family.

“How cold can a person get…we would end up in schoolyard fights, no one is brave enough to fend for themselves without a weapon,” he said.

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“Whoever did this to André is a coward. How could they sleep? It’s cold blooded. I wouldn’t want my worst enemy to go through that.

McBean Sr. added: “The answer is hard work. Canada is a great country and people should cherish the life given to them by the Creator.

“For André’s killers, I pray for them and their families. I hope they find it in their hearts to do the right thing.

If you have any information regarding this case, please contact Homicide at 416-808-7400, or at [email protected]. Or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416−222−TIPS (8477) or 222tips.com.

[email protected]

@HunterTOSun

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