A teenager has been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 71-year-old Toronto woman, police say.
According to investigators, 71-year-old Shahnaz Pestonji had just finished buying groceries at a North York plaza and was loading them into her vehicle, when she was allegedly stabbed by a 14-year-old boy in what police believe to be an unprovoked attack.
First responders were called to the area of Parkway Forest Drive and Sheppard Avenue East, near Don Mills Road, just after 9:30 a.m. on July 17 and located Pestonji with stab wounds. She was transported to a hospital and later pronounced dead.
Authorities say the suspect fled the area before police arrived.
Investigators had been searching for the lone-male suspect for several days and received judicial authorization to identify the youth by name and photo.
On Sunday, that authorization expired after police announced the boy’s arrest. He faces a single charge of second-degree murder and is scheduled to appear in a Toronto court on Monday, July 21, 2025.
His arrest comes as videos circulating on social media appear to show a masked individual purporting to be the 14-year-old suspect talking about the attack on a livestream.
Toronto police say they are aware of the videos, but have not confirmed the identity of the individual shown in them.
“This is an active investigation,” a spokesperson told CityNews.
Family grieving the loss of mother and wife
Pestonji’s family is now grieving the devastating loss of their beloved wife, mother and grandmother.
“I don’t want to think of my mom like that. I want to think of my mom as who she was in life, and she’s the most kind person, the least violent person you’ll ever meet, doing things for everybody else, her spirit, her smile,” said her daughter Dina.
Shahnaz was a nurse at Sunnybrook for over 20 years and she carried that caring nature to every part of her life, her family tells CityNews.
“She always found the joy in everything, no matter what we’re going through, even in the hard times, she was the one that always was our rock. (She) made sure that everyone was okay around her, that we were all taken care of,” shared Dina.
Shahnaz and her husband Soli had been married for 47 years. “I was truly blessed, I mean, it’s 47 years, but I don’t think too many people will have the life that I’ve had,” he shared.
“She’s everything for everyone, but with such a kind heart and also with so much optimism and laughter. She would never really let us be sad. She always found the way to light things up for us,” said Dina.
The family said they don’t want to keep analyzing the tragedy of the way she died as “there’s never going to a way for us to reconcile [with it].”
“It’s never going to make sense … we can only hope that person gets help, but not think about that at all … just think about what we’ve had with her.” their daughter Yasmin shared. “That’s the only way we can look at it and be able to move forward in a positive way.”
Yasmin is expecting her second child and her mother will never be able to meet her grandchild. “My mom is the second person who’s been able to feel the baby kick and that will never be taken away from us.”
“Our life of almost 40 years [with my mom] , and almost 42 years for Dina, of having that kind of love, you don’t just lose that. I hope we can make my mom as proud as we can and just honour her,” shared Yasmin.