TORONTO — Two people are dead after gunfire broke out in Hamilton’s Stoney Creek neighbourhood in the early hours of Wednesday, one of them was a teenager.Police say 18-year-old Abdulmalek Shibli and 16-year-old Afef Binafif were found with gunshot wounds outside a home at 191 Candlewood Drive around 2:25 a.m. Both were rushed to hospital but did not survive.Det. Sgt. Mike Ebert told reporters that at least six people showed up at the address and an exchange of gunfire followed. Investigators believe someone living at the complex was the intended target, though that person was not hit.The families of the two young men are “devastated,” Ebert said, and have asked for privacy.No one has been arrested. Ebert urged anyone involved to contact a lawyer and turn themselves in..Police think the shooting may have been payback for a disturbance involving bear spray that happened a couple of hours earlier near Barton Street East and Centennial Parkway North. Ebert would not say exactly how the victims were connected to that earlier incident.Officers described the shooting as targeted and said they do not believe the wider public is at risk. They remained in the neighbourhood for the next day and asked anyone with security video from between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. to come forward.The deaths add to a string of troubling incidents involving young people in Hamilton. Police have already flagged a sharp jump in bear-spray attacks among kids and teens, and two other teenagers were shot and killed in the city earlier this spring.Anyone with information is asked to call Hamilton Police at 905-546-4925
