North Preston shooting death of Quintez Downey is a homicide, police say

The man who was shot and killed in North Preston, N.S., on Wednesday morning has been identified as 20-year-old Quintez Downey.

Police declared the death a homicide on Thursday afternoon after receiving the results of an autopsy.

RCMP were called to the community shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday after receiving reports of shots fired.

While en route to the scene, police located the shooting victim, who was being taken to hospital by a civilian. Paramedics and police then transported the man to hospital, where he later died.

Darryl Johnson, Downey's former youth worker and basketball coach, confirmed Downey's death on Thursday.Condolences for Downey's friends and family have also been shared on social media.

Johnson called Downey who often went by the nickname Q a "super human being" who was always positive, very sociable andliked to joke around.

"He could have been an ambassador. He's that type of kid. He was just so friendly," Johnson said. "Whenever he walked into my office,immediately he would just bring a smile to my face because of his positive attitude."

Downey attended CrandallUniversity, a Christian school in Moncton, N.B., and was pursuing a bachelor of arts. He spoke of becoming a fashion model and planned to continue playing basketball at school.

"If you coachas long as I have, you're able to see and tell right away what kind of person you're going to see in the future and with him, I could see that he was going to be an outstanding young man," Johnson said.

Johnson said he would never have anticipated that Downey's life would end by gun violence.

"Of all the ... youth that I've worked with, and all the students, Q was the last person he wasabsolutely the last person Iwould think that would be in a situation where he's no longer here because of violence."

RCMPhave not named the victim in the shooting, but say he was shot near Clarence Street.

No arrests have been made. Policecontinue to investigate.

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