“He was an innocent child,” said Rick Sarma, president of the Seneca Student Federation.
Vasudev, a first-semester student in marketing management at Seneca College, was going to work part-time on Thursday around 5pm when he was killed at Sherbourne Underground Station.
Police arrived to locate him with multiple gunshot wounds. He was rushed to hospital where he later died.
Police have not made any arrests or provided any information about the suspects so far. They ask any witnesses to appear.
The fatal shooting took place at Sherbourne Underground Station around 5pm on Thursday. (CBC)
Hailing from India, Vasudev arrived in Canada on January 5 after years of planning his career and a new life here.
Sharma described him as a brilliant student with a great future.
“I hope everyone remembers him as a hard-working, ambitious and inspiring international student,” he said.
An international student, Sharma himself, said he was shocked, along with the entire school community.
A sign that reads “#I AM KARTIK”. The victim’s family and friends say Kartik Vasudev is the representative of the hundreds of thousands of foreign students who arrive in Canada each year and that Thursday’s shooting should not have happened to any of them. (CBC)
“Students, they feel so sad right now – they are deeply saddened,” he said.
“It should not happen to any of us.”
“We lost our little child”
The victim’s father, Jitesh Vasudev, speaking from India on Friday night, said the family was “devastated” during a telephone interview with CBC News.
“How can you feel? We lost our little child there,” he said. “My son was a kind, humble, sweet child. Why was my son the target?”
Vasudev’s friends and family at a vigil held in his honor on Sunday. (CBC)
Sharma, who also spoke with the victim’s father, reiterated the family’s desire for answers.
“They were literally in tears, they could not even speak properly,” Sharma said.
“What they are asking for is at least the reason why he was shot.”
Parliament “will seek justice”
Melissa Lantsman, a member of Thornhill’s parliament, Ont., Spoke at the event, assuring friends and family that the federal government “knows this” and will help “seek justice” for Vasudev. “You have our support and we will make sure that the House of Commons in Canada knows about Kartik, about his legacy and knows that international students are welcome here and it is a safe environment for them,” he said. Seneca College says it offers support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to any student who needs it.
