Most-read stories of the week: First homicides of 2024, stitches for 4-year-old, international students

Waterloo regional police investigating first homicide of 2024

Thursday’s shooting in Kitchener is now considered the region’s first homicide of the year. Waterloo regional police said they were called to Gray Street, near Casey Drive, around 9 a.m. after people reported hearing gunshots.

 

When first responders arrived, they found a 28-year-old man dead outside a home. His name has not been publicly released.

Investigators believe it was a targeted shooting but have not yet shared any details about the shooter.

Later that night, police confirmed the death of a woman in Cambridge was also being ruled a homicide.

Officers were called to a home on Fletcher Circle around 9:25 p.m. for a wellness check. When they arrived, they found a 61-year-old woman dead. A 57-year-old man who was also at the home was taken into custody. Police did not say what, if any, charges he’s facing.

On Friday, police released and image of an SUV they believe is connected to the Kitchener homicide.

Mom says 4-year-old needed stitches after Cambridge classroom incident

Tracy Joyce’s 4-year-old daughter needed three stitches under her right eye after a classroom incident involving another student.

Joyce said she got a call from St. Augustine Catholic School in Cambridge on Jan. 10.

“I was assuming they were going to tell me one of my kids had a runny nose or vomited and needed to be picked up, but they said: ‘One of your kids was involved in an incident. We’re pretty sure she needs medical attention. You need to come get her,’” Joyce recalled.

Her daughter said she was eating lunch in her junior kindergarten class, when another student threw a Lego piece at her face.

“Blood everywhere. She was really upset. I think it was traumatic for every kid in that room,” Joyce said.

Filmmakers want help finding 'The Human Fly' who could be in Fergus, Ont.

A worldwide search is underway for a mysterious Canadian stuntman who seemingly disappeared from the limelight decades ago, and the hunt has narrowed in on southwestern Ontario.

Documentary filmmakers from Astronaut Films, based in London, U.K., want help finding The Human Fly and they believe the masked man might be living in Fergus, Ont.

The Canadian’s stunts were as intriguing as the mystery that surrounds him.

“I read that he disappeared, that no one knew who was, that there was some kind of mob connections in the story of him and then Marvel got involved, and every kind of layer just became more and more kind of insane,” said Jon Alwen, founder of Astronaut Films.

The Human Fly in an undated photo. (Source: THF Inc.)

Local schools raise concerns about the new cap on international student admissions

Conestoga College says the federal government’s plan to limit the amount of international students in Canada might be too much, too soon.

The temporary-two year cap was announced by Immigration Minister Marc Miller on Monday and will cut the number of approved study permits in 2024 to 364,000. The 2025 limit will be reassessed at the end of this year.

Miller said the move would allow them to address institutions and “bad actors” who are charging exorbitantly high tuition fees for international students, all while increasing the number of international students they are accepting.

Miller added that students aren’t to blame and he called them an asset to the country.

Conestoga College's campus in Waterloo, Ont. (Dan Lauckner/CTV Kitchener)

Pet kangaroos are living in Centre Wellington

Kangaroos on the run in Ontario have recently made headlines, but a couple hopping around Centre Wellington are there on purpose.

“I have a very high fence. And I have told them about the rules of the road. They're not allowed to cross the street. I don't want any OPP video of them hopping along the highway,” joked owner Lance Henderson.

He lives just east of Fergus, Ont. and his kangaroos, named Bindi and Gryphon, reside on the property with him.

“Kangaroos -- not something you carry on a leash. You need farm property. So you're usually in an area like mine. It's a dirt road. People aren't coming down here,” Henderson explained.

The farm is surrounded by a fenced-in space, which is equipped with a heated home if the animals don’t want to brave the snow.

A kangaroo at a Centre Wellington, Ont. farm. (Spencer Turcotte/CTV Kitchener)