A cellphone recording played inside a Toronto courtroom has provided a disturbing glimpse into what prosecutors describe as a murder-for-hire arrangement involving teenagers, firearms and money. The recording was presented during the sentencing hearing of a youth who has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the July 2024 killing of 28-year-old tow-truck driver Sulakshan Selvasingam.
The Crown says the recording captured an unknown male caller speaking with the teenagers the day before Selvasingam was killed at a Scarborough gas station. Prosecutors allege the conversation included directions about carrying out the shooting, recording it and receiving additional compensation. The evidence is now part of a case extending well beyond a single homicide, touching on a series of shootings, stolen vehicles and violence police have linked to a small segment of Toronto’s towing industry.
A Cellphone Recording Takes Centre Stage in Court
The recording was played during the sentencing proceedings of a youth who was 16 when Selvasingam was killed. Because the case is governed by the Youth Criminal Justice Act, his identity cannot generally be published. He pleaded guilty in June 2026 to first-degree murder, eliminating the need for a trial on whether he committed the killing while leaving the court to determine the appropriate sentence and how his time already spent in custody will be treated.
According to the Crown’s description in court, the cellphone video was made on July 5, 2024, while the youth and two other teenagers were travelling around the Kennedy Commons area in a stolen black Acura fitted with stolen licence plates. Prosecutors said they had been searching for Selvasingam for hours. The recording reportedly captured a gun, cash and a telephone conversation with an unidentified man. That combination gives the footage particular importance because prosecutors say it documents events occurring only one day before the fatal shooting.
The Caller Allegedly Gave Instructions and Asked for Proof
Assistant Crown attorney Sharna Reid told the court that portions of the recording were difficult to hear, but prosecutors say the unidentified caller could be heard asking whether the teenagers had spotted someone who looked like their intended target. When the teen complained about spending considerable time driving around, the conversation reportedly turned to locating the man and how the shooting should be carried out.
The Crown alleges the caller advised the shooter to fire at the victim’s body before aiming at his head. Prosecutors also said the caller wanted the teenagers to record what happened, an apparent demand for proof that the assignment had been completed. A bonus was discussed in connection with obtaining video. One of the teenagers reacted to the instructions by comparing what was being requested to the violent world of the Grand Theft Auto video-game series, underscoring the unsettling contrast between the youths’ age and the seriousness of what prosecutors say they were preparing to do.
Payment Was Discussed Before the Killing
Money was not merely visible in the recording, according to the Crown. The teen who later pleaded guilty to murder can also be heard discussing how much he expected to receive. Prosecutors told the court that he sought significantly more than he had been earning from other jobs, while the unidentified caller allegedly responded by suggesting that successfully completing the assignment could lead to additional work involving more significant targets.
Those exchanges are central to the Crown’s description of the homicide as a murder-for-hire plot rather than a spontaneous confrontation. Earlier court proceedings had already heard an agreed statement of facts saying the youth was recruited and offered money by adults connected with the towing industry. Because the principal youth has entered a guilty plea, the sentencing hearing is not determining whether he shot Selvasingam. But allegations concerning unidentified adults require careful distinction: the recent court reporting says those people had not been arrested, and the man heard on the telephone has not been publicly identified.
The Teens Had Been Looking for Selvasingam the Day Before
The recorded telephone conversation formed part of several hours the group allegedly spent searching around the Kennedy Commons area on July 5. The same day, according to the agreed facts presented in court, the teenagers were involved in another shooting at a tow truck parked at a Shell station on Don Mills Road. Multiple rounds were fired, and one of the teens recorded that shooting as well. The tow-truck driver survived.
That episode is significant because the Crown presented it as part of a broader pattern rather than an isolated act immediately preceding Selvasingam’s death. The youth who pleaded guilty to murder also admitted to 13 counts of reckless discharge of a firearm connected to shootings at various businesses and properties. Some of those targets included cinemas, auto-related businesses, a tow yard, a jewellery store, a cannabis business and a restaurant. The offences stretched across several weeks in the spring and summer of 2024, illustrating how quickly the violence escalated.
Selvasingam Was Shot Nine Times at a Scarborough Gas Station
The fatal encounter occurred the next evening, July 6, 2024. According to the agreed facts described in court, the teenagers again travelled through the area using stolen vehicles before separating. The shooter and another teen eventually arrived at a Shell gas station on Warden Avenue near Ellesmere Road, where they waited in a white Honda Civic. Selvasingam, a 28-year-old Pickering resident who worked in the towing industry, arrived later that night.
Shortly after 10:15 p.m., Selvasingam pulled his vehicle into a parking space beside the Civic. The court heard that he was shot nine times within seconds. Contemporary police reporting said several shots were fired into his vehicle before the assailants fled. Selvasingam was taken to a trauma centre but died from his injuries. Another person in his vehicle survived without physical injury after taking cover in the passenger area. Toronto police classified Selvasingam’s death as the city’s 45th homicide of 2024.
The Escape Allegedly Involved a Burned Vehicle and Discarded Plates
The sequence did not end when the shots were fired. According to the agreed facts, the teenagers drove away from Toronto and later regrouped in Uxbridge. The vehicle used in the shooting was then stripped of its licence plates. The plates were discarded in a sewage drain, while the car itself was set on fire, actions prosecutors have presented as an effort to destroy evidence and avoid detection.
Other teenagers involved in the events subsequently pleaded guilty to offences connected with helping after firearm discharges. The principal youth was arrested on July 15, 2024. Court reporting from his June 2026 guilty plea said police encountered him while he was travelling in another stolen vehicle and that a Glock .40-calibre handgun fell from a satchel during the arrest. According to the agreed facts reported by CBC, forensic evidence connected that weapon to Selvasingam’s killing. The arrest came only nine days after the murder and during an expanding investigation into numerous related shootings.
Toronto Police Had Already Linked Tow-Truck Disputes to Dozens of Shootings
The homicide unfolded against an unusually violent period involving part of Toronto’s towing industry. In August 2024, Toronto police announced Project Beacon, a coordinated effort aimed at shootings associated with tow-truck disputes. Police said there had already been 43 tow-truck-related shootings or firearm discharges that year and estimated at the time that approximately 14 per cent of the city’s shooting events were connected to an ongoing territorial dispute involving a small portion of the industry.
By the end of 2024, police said the yearly total had reached 63 tow-truck-related firearm discharge and shooting incidents, representing almost 13 per cent of Toronto’s shootings. Authorities repeatedly stressed that the violence involved a small segment of the business rather than the towing sector as a whole. Project Beacon ultimately produced multiple arrests and more than 180 charges. Police launched another enforcement initiative, Project Dodger, in January 2025 after additional violence showed that the underlying conflicts had not disappeared.
Court Documents Point to Alleged Adult Recruiters
One of the most consequential parts of the agreed facts concerns who prosecutors say was behind the teenagers. The court heard that “influential adults” associated with the towing industry recruited the youth and offered him money to carry out violent offences. The agreed account said these adults had access to firearms and were prepared to participate in retaliatory violence connected with industry conflicts. The adults described in the recent sentencing coverage had not been arrested.
The allegations also fit a method Toronto police have publicly discussed in other, separate investigations. In June 2026, police said investigators were seeing what Chief Myron Demkiw described as a recurring “criminals for hire” model in which young people were recruited through encrypted communications, sent to shoot specific targets and required to record attacks as proof before receiving payment. Police connected 27 firearm discharge incidents to one such investigation. Authorities have not publicly said that those 2026 cases form part of the same organization responsible for Selvasingam’s murder, so the similarities should not be treated as proof of a direct connection.
Victim Impact Statements Shifted Attention Back to the People Harmed
Much of the sentencing evidence concerns vehicles, guns, recordings and communications, but victim impact statements brought the consequences into more personal focus. The tow-truck driver who survived the July 5 shooting described living with continuing anxiety and a heightened sense that he could again become a target. The shooting, he told the court in his statement, fundamentally changed the security he once felt while simply doing his job.
Selvasingam’s family also addressed the court. His mother and sister described the damage created by losing a 28-year-old whose life, according to his sister Krishiga, had centred heavily on helping his family and other people. Earlier reporting after the guilty plea also described Selvasingam’s father saying he had worried about the dangers surrounding towing work and had warned his son about entering the business. Their statements add another dimension to a case otherwise dominated by the mechanics of an alleged contract killing: behind the discussion of payment and proof was a family that lost a son and brother in a parking lot within seconds.
A Maximum Youth Sentence Is Now Before the Court
The teen’s age at the time of the offence significantly affects the sentencing framework. Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act permits a youth sentence of up to 10 years for first-degree murder. Under the applicable youth-sentence structure, that can include a maximum of six years in custody followed by four years of conditional supervision in the community. Federal law also generally protects the identities of young people dealt with under the YCJA, which is why reporting on this case does not publish the youth’s full identity.
The Crown and defence have indicated that they will jointly seek the maximum 10-year youth sentence for the first-degree murder conviction. The unresolved issue is how much credit should be applied for the period the teen has already spent in pre-sentence custody. The sentencing hearing is expected to continue in October. Even after punishment is determined, however, significant questions surrounding the alleged organizers remain. The unidentified caller heard on the recording and the adults described as recruiters in the agreed facts have become part of the larger unanswered story behind Selvasingam’s killing.
