It’s been one week since the death of 13-year-old Subhan Mareer, an event that has forever changed the lives of his family members.
“The unexpected and violent death of our son has traumatized our whole family,” Syed Mareer, father of Subhan, told reporters on Thrusday. “The worst part of it has been that we don’t have any answers about what happened,”
Syed Mareer said his family of six had gone to the Oshawa Centre mall on Friday, Aug. 16, between 4 p.m.. and 5:30 p.m. Mareer said they parked their blue Honda Odyssey at the mall’s second entrance, near the Tim Hortons.
The family, practicing Muslims, had just finished Friday prayers, Mareer said.
Subhan, the family’s eldest son, told his father he wanted to stay in the car and practice lines for an upcoming play.
Syed Mareer told reporters Subhan hated shopping and there was nothing unusual about him asking to stay behind.
The family went inside the mall, leaving Subhan seated in the middle seat with the car key.
When the family returned about 45 minutes to an hour later, they found Subhan with the seatbelt wrapped tightly around his neck.
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“And obviously, a father would panic,” Mashid Bessed, a family friend said in an interview with reporters on Thursday.
“(Subhan’s father) started pulling the seatbelt but couldn’t because it was wrapped twice around his neck.”
Bessed said Subhan hadn’t been in his original seat.
“When they left him he was seated in the middle, but when they found him he was in the back, passenger corner,” Bessed said. “But when you look at him, the way it was entangled… that itself raises questions for any parent.”
The family says someone nearby helped them cut the seatbelt loose.
“I grabbed him, gave him CPR… basic treatment and then after that, his heart started beating back and I said ‘thank God,’” Syed Mareer said.
Police arrived and Subhan was rushed to Lakeridge Heath hospital in Oshawa.
Mareer said that doctors told him Subhan had suffered serious brain damage and that there was a chance he would not be the same child. “And I said, I don’t care. I’ll pay whatever you want. I want him back. I want him alive.”
Subhan was in a coma for five days and was taken off of life support by his family on Wednesday. He passed away that morning.
Durham Police says no evidence of criminality
In an emailed statement to Global News on Friday, Sgt. Joanne Bortoluss said Durham Regional Police was investigating the circumstances around Subhan’s death.
“Investigators have reviewed, and continue to review, surveillance footage from vehicles in the area as well as the mall,” Bortoluss said.
“At this time in the investigation, there is no evidence to suggest criminality.”
Police say an autopsy is pending.
Mareer family says they want answers
While speaking with reporters on Thurday, Syed Mareer described Subhan as a “future-oriented” child who loved his life.
A few days before the incident, Subhan was at Centre Island playing with his brothers and friends. He asked his father if he could take him to Wonderland the weekend he died.
“He had so much to look forward to and that he was excited about,” Mareer said. “There was no indication of any mental health issues or depression. No teacher, parent, sibling, friend would ever say he did not want to be alive.”
The family now faced with putting their grief on pause, in hopes more is done to find out the truth.
“We cannot fathom that he intentionally put himself through strangulation,” Mareer said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family. Both the family and police are appealing for witnesses or anyone who was at the Oshawa Centre mall between 3:45 p.m. and 5:45 p.m., who may have video footage or any information.
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