A Toronto suspect wanted for the fatal shooting of another man has topped Canada’s Top 25 Most Wanted List as $1 million in total combined rewards is being offered for information that leads to the arrests of fugitives on the list.
The updated list by the BOLO Program – which stands for Be On the Look Out – has listed Michael Bebee as the country’s top fugitive.
Police allege Bebee is wanted for second-degree murder of 29-year-old Shamar Powell-Flowers on July 23, 2023 in the city’s east end near Danforth and Carlaw avneues.
Toronto police chief Myron Demkiw said at the time of Powell-Flowers’s murder, Bebee was under a gun prohibition for his part in another Toronto shooting four years earlier.
There is a reward of up to $100,000 for any information leading to Bebee’s arrest — which is part of the $1 million in rewards for the 25 fugitives.
At the press conference on Tuesday, Demkiw stood alongside BOLO’s program director Max Langlois with $1 million in cash stacked in front of them.
“Today for the first time, we are putting our reward money on the table, literally” Langlois said, standing in front of the bundles of cash. “One million dollars of clean cash. This has never been done, it is unprecedented.”
Included in the list is Cristian Cuxum who is wanted for the murder of Edwin Alvarado that happened in Toronto on October 2022. The reward for a tip leading to his arrest is also $100,000.
Langlois said the money is not from the police or taxpayer money but is from the BOLO program, an initiative funded by Stephan Cretier Foundation as a way to amplify priority wanted notices issued by Canadian police services.
He said following the press conference the money will be returned to a trust account managed by a law firm.
“Waiting for you to call in that tip that can make the difference for one of our cases,” Langlois said. “BOLO rewards are payable in the information you provide leads to the arrest of the suspect. Period. There are no other conditions. Potential convictions in court have nothing to do with our reward being paid out.”