THE SAD PART
It is with great sadness, shock and anger that we report the senseless loss of our friend, Oliver Martin, pictured on the left. Oliver was murdered just after midnight on Friday the 13th, along with his childhood friend, Dylan Ellis, while sitting in their Range Rover waiting for a friend after watching the Celtics/Lakers NBA game. Both were just 25 years old.
Me and the AGORACOM team first met Oliver at our Bay Street Hold ‘Em networking events, where he immediately stood out as an up and coming member of the Canadian finance scene. Oliver was a cool, polite, sharp-dressed and fun guy that we always invited back to our invite-only event. He also had a great poker face and actually placed in the top 3 at one of our events.
What I will remember most about Oliver were the incredible ties he always wore as part of his impeccable attire – and our inside joke that I would constantly try to buy them from him at our events.
Oliver was the youngest and only boy in a family of 4 children. Oliver and Dylan were inseparable childhood friends.
THE SHOCKING PART
You can read all the details of the murder via the extensive media coverage but by all accounts Oliver and Dylan were sitting in their truck in front of their friend’s condo just off the Toronto business district. They had just finished watching the game, actually left the area but came back for an “innocent reason” and were waiting for their friend to come down and meet them. Perhaps one of them forgot a cell phone, or returned to pick up the friend to go out for drinks? UPDATE: They were retrieving forgotten keys.
In any event, within seconds of pulling up, they were murdered in what police believe to be a botched car jacking. Police have gone out of their way to let everyone know that neither of the two were known to police and lived nothing short of exemplary lives.
THE ANGRY PART
Oliver and Dylan are dead because they drove a fucking Range Rover. We lost two exemplary citizens, children, brothers, buddies, colleagues over nothing more than a fancy truck. A random, senseless murder that could have been any of us. A crime that exemplifies the path of this city. One in which gutless “gangsters” run around with guns – and in which an even more gutless mayor governs with impotence.
Criminals in both Toronto and Canada operate without fear. Law abiding citizens have become nothing more than Zebras crossing the Mara River knowing full well some of them are going to be picked off by crocodiles. At least in Africa it is part of the natural food chain. In Toronto it is nothing more than a crime chain where hard working, law abiding people are made to feel as if they owe something to petty thieves.
I don’t know what is going to happen but the situation has to change and it has to change now. Criminals have to start living in fear. Criminals need to start getting picked off. If politicians can’t get the job done, the time may have come for angry white-collar men to take care of business themselves.
We work hard, we abide by the law and we pay our taxes. We owe nothing to the criminal underclass except for what now may be shaping up as a good fight. I know I speak for many who feel the same way. We’re sad that Oliver is gone but the manner of his passing requires a reckoning.
. You will find it above the executive address in the right hand margin of the HUB. Alternatively, go to any HUB Home page and look for this in the “Recent Updates” box:
Good evening to you all and sorry for being away from the blog for a while. I’m back in full force now and wanted to start off light with my new favourite acronym to describe the ridiculous criteria used by mortgage lenders, which ultimately contributed to the sub-prime mortgage mess: