In the past decade rap music and gang violence has had an uptake in Toronto. It’s no surprise that the two go hand in hand, sometimes, a little too literally. Street gangs in Montreal have taken notes and followed suite. But this article is a Toronto story from the get-go, a ton of bloodshed has taken place to see the success of certain Toronto rappers such as Pressa, Smoke Dawg, and Houdini. A very different type of success from Drake, The Weeknd and Nav.
In the wee hours of Thursday morning (11/04/2024), as bars had announced their last calls and were shutting down, gunfire started course. In the midst of an iron-sight was 30 year old, Ibrahim Abdikarim, of Toronto. The birth name may not ring bells to your ears, but his nickname surely has, JasonGGG; the three G’s at the end of his nickname stand for ‘Go Getem Gang’. A Toronto gang hailing from the Up Top district, in other words, from Jane, Jungle (Lawrence Heights) and Driftwood.
Over the recent years, there has been an un-proclaimed street gang war between boroughs of Toronto. Between the Up Top sector (Jane, Lawrence Heights and Driftwood) and the Bottom Down (Regent Park, Falstaff & Rexdale). These conflicts have been prevalent since 2010, with 2018 being the bloodiest year Toronto has ever seen with 96 homicide cases, 51 of them being gun-related.
The shooting took place near the intersection of Queen Street West and Portland Street just after 2:30am, when emergency services had gotten to the scene, they found 3 wounded individuals, all from gunshots. Only one of them was pronounced dead after he was rushed to the hospital; Ibrahim Abdikarim, nickname; JasonGGG. A member from the street gang Go Getem Gang, who claimed allegiance to the colour ‘blue’, in other words, a Crip. He was only 30 years old at the time of his death.
The other two victims of the shooting included a 36 year-old woman, as well as a 33 year-old man. Toronto detective sergeant, Trevor Grieve had told media that the shooting may have been a ‘targeted shooting’, but with the life that these men tend to lead, it was definitely targeted. The suspects fled in a dark-colored two door sedan. The shooting took place in Toronto’s so called ‘Fashion District’.
It hasn’t been revealed to the public yet on how many gunshots have been fired, but an individual who was visiting her daughter, who lived in the area, reported she had head 5 gunshots go off at around 2:30am. Two consecutive shots, followed by three others.
This shooting might have been the result of a disagreement which happened at the Mister Wolf Club, a club patron had noted how he had heard a commotion taking place inside the club followed by a woman screaming. Then a gunshot had gone off and security and bouncers were focused on evacuating the club. This is Toronto’s 20th homicide of the year.
JasonGGG was a vital part to the Go Gottem Gang, being present from the start and bringing in tons of cash for his fellow members in the street gang. He had not only been present in Toronto, but was very present street-wise in Alberta, raking in money that he would eventually bring home to Toronto.
This is a huge loss for the Go Getem Gang since he served as their personal wallet, including the names that would eventually gain a bit of leverage from rap music. He also primarily took care of his fellow colleagues while they were incarceration. Allegedly, he spent 1,000$ on smuggling in a phone to Top5 while he was incarcerated in Maplehurst Correctional Complex to film an upcoming Top5 music video, ’21 Questions’ .
Recently, JasonGGG had gotten his triple G chain snatched from him, but the shame did not last long, as soon after he was able to get it back, flaunting it on Instagram, stating that a lot of murder came with the chain. His Instagram coldworld_1 was taken down shortly after his death. Many Toronto rappers and gang members paid respects to JasonGGG on Instagram and other platform such as WhyG, Top5, Fetty Luciano and Rowdy Rebel.
JasonGGG was implicated in an attempted murder which took place on June 1st in 2016. He was one of the two suspects caught on camera discharging a pistol in the Jamestown neighborhood near the Finch Avenue West and Martin Grove Road. It took place in the parking lot of a housing complex at 15 Pittsboro Drive. The victim, 20 year-old Nathan Leigh, was rushed to the hospital after the shooting had taken place. He survived. The shooting occurred towards 9:15am.
JasonGGG (Ibrahim Abdikarim) was accompanied by famous Toronto rapper WhyG, whose real name is Shamaury White when they both approached the victim in the parking lot only to fire multiple shots towards the victim, and then fleeing. JasonGGG was only 23 years-old at the time while WhyG was 22 years-old.
JasonGGG was only apprehended on March 8th, 2017, he was charged with attempted murder and discharging a firearm with intend to endanger a life. WhyG went on the run and was wanted for a while on the charges of discharging a firearm with intent to endanger a life and unauthorized possession of a firearm.
Toronto police were vicariously searching for WhyG in the years and months that had passed by, he was no where to be found. That is until he had come back home to Toronto. WhyG, Shamaury White was finally apprehended at Pearson airport, the renowned YYZ terminal that is on the outskirts of Toronto.
When WhyG had landed, authorities were already at the airport, ready to apprehend the suspect. It occurred on May 10th in 2018. Once authorities had their hand on him, he bowed his head in shame in hopes to conserve his privacy. He was then placed in a squad car and shipped the the 23 division. WhyG had been apprehended in Columbus, Ohio and sent back to Toronto through Flight 7342 Air Canada. Nathan Leigh had testified in court and both shooter were surprisingly acquitted.
So what does mean for the Go Getem Gang? The future is uncertain, it’s no doubt that JasonGGG was a high ranking member, with a lot of love surrounding him. Will GGG persist even though he had been targeted? Most likely. But it’s clear he had a lot of important people mourning his death.
