Alleged killer on Toronto police’s most-wanted list arrested in U.S.

A man who was on Toronto police’s most-wanted list in connection with the point-blank shooting of a Hamilton man has been arrested in the United States.

Toronto police confirmed Akil Whyte is in custody stateside, but he has not yet been extradited.

“We don’t know how long that will take,” said Const. Caroline de Kloet.

Court documents linked to Whyte’s extradition were filed at the end of July in Atlanta. It is unclear on what grounds he was apprehended.

Toronto police previously said they considered him armed and “extremely dangerous.”

Whyte is wanted for first-degree murder in connection with a 2017 shooting that led to the death of Hamilton man Leonard Pinnock.

The 33-year-old was sitting in his car waiting for a friend in the parking lot of a strip mall near Dufferin Street and Eglinton Avenue W. when two suspects fired multiple shots into the driver’s window, Toronto police said.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Surveillance video showed two suspects in hooded jackets approach the car from the front and back and fire several shots in the span of about 17 seconds before running away.

Whyte was wearing a light-coloured hoodie in the video and fired the first shot, according to investigators.

Police said at the time that the shooting appeared to be a “random attack.”

Police say no one else has been arrested in connection with the case. De Kloet would not say if investigators are still searching for a second suspect.

More information will be released once Whyte is extradited, she said.

According to court documents, the U.S. District Court has ordered that Whyte be kept in custody “pending arrival of the duly authorized representatives of the Government of Canada.”

The documents also state that Whyte’s transfer will happen at a time that works for both the United States Marshal and Canadian authorities.