ONE YEAR AGO: Woman murdered in Mississauga an ‘innocent bystander’; killer still on the loose

Raneilia Richards, a young woman full of potential and with her entire life ahead of her, just wanted to get into a nightclub to enjoy an evening out with friends.

Little did the 19-year-old North York woman know that as she stood in line in the chilly early morning hours one year ago today outside a popular and packed night spot in Mississauga’s east end that her life would end only moments later.

A stray bullet shot from an SUV on a nearby street found its unintended mark in Richards, who was waiting in a line of around 100 people along with her sister and boyfriend.

The suspect vehicle, described as a grey or light-coloured SUV, then quickly sped away from Jungle Event Space, at Dixie Road and Eglinton Avenue East, after the 1:30 a.m. shooting. The club closed down immediately after the killing and has not reopened.

Multiple gunshots were fired toward the crowd, one of the bullets striking and killing the young woman who would’ve began college that same week with a dream of working in the travel and aviation industry.

Richards has been described numerous times since by Peel Regional Police as an innocent bystander tragically killed just as she was about to embark on the rest of her life.

Map shows intersection in east Mississauga (Eglinton Avenue East and Dixie Road) where the deadly shooting took place.

Exactly one year later, her killer remains on the loose, the target of an intense and ongoing homicide investigation.

Peel police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said shortly after the slaying “it’s absolutely a miracle” others weren’t hurt or killed given the spray of bullets fired toward the crowd.

The case is one, among others, that has left a mark on veteran police investigators — and Peel’s highest-ranking cop — as they seek the young woman’s killer.

“The Richards family deserves answers and justice over the loss of Raneilia Richards, an innocent 19-year old tragically murdered,” Duraiappah said earlier this year. 

Speaking to the media last Jan. 9, Acting Homicide Insp. Phillip King reiterated that Richards was an “innocent bystander” and not the intended target of the fatal shooting, which occurred outside a club and plaza with a lengthy history of gun violence, deadly and otherwise.

This past summer, police also marked the fifth anniversary of the murder of Jackline Gore, 24, a London, Ont. native who was gunned down on July 8, 2019 while waiting for a ride home outside a bar near Pearson Airport in east Mississauga.

Both murders remain unsolved, which prompted police to offer $100,000 rewards this past July for information leading to arrests of the killers who gunned down the two young women.

Anyone with information on either case is urged to call police at 905-453-2121, ext. 3205, or Peel Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.