Cellphone video has emerged showing Drake acting as a pallbearer on Saturday at the funeral of his close friend who was shot to death in Toronto last week.
In the footage, clocking in at just over one minute, the Canadian superstar rapper is seen among a group of eight men carrying the white casket bearing the body of Anthony ‘Fif’ Soares.
As TMZ first reported, the 30-year-old Hotline Bling singer attended a funeral for his close friend at the Ogden Funeral Home Chapel in Scarborough, Ontario, followed by a burial at the Duffin Meadows Cemetery.
Celebrity mourner: Drake (center) is seen acting as one of the pallbearers at the funeral of his slain friend Anthony ‘Fif’ Soarer in Pickering, Ontario, on Saturday
Solemn duty: The bearded Hotline Bling singer, dressed in all black, helped carry the white casket during the internment service at the Duffin Meadows Cemetery in Ontario, Canada
In a video recorded at the event, the 30-year-old Grammy winner is seen carefully placing the coffin bearing his friend’s body onto a platform over the burial plot
Drake (seen in the bottom left corner) was close friends with the victim of the September 14 shooting in Toronto
In the video recorded during the interment service, the somber Grammy winner is seen wearing an-all black ensemble, save for a pair of white gloves.
Drake and seven other pallbearers carry the coffin and carefully position it onto a platform over the burial plot so it could be lowered into ground.
The footage later shows the former Degrassi star standing with other mourners at the graveside.
Eyewitnesses tell TMZ Drake, whose real name is Aubrey Drake Graham, did not speak at the solemn gathering and largely kept a low profile.
Quiet moment: The footage later shows the former Degrassi star standing with other mourners at the graveside. Eyewitnesses said Drake did not speak at the solemn gathering
The moment Soares was murdered in a violent shooting in Toronto on September 14 was captured on surveillance cameras.
Two unidentified men opened fire on Anthony ‘Fif’ Soares in the lobby of a building just before 3am that morning.
Toronto Police have released footage of the horrific, targeted shooting in a bid to track down Soares’ killers.
Drake took to Instagram to mourn the death of his friend saying it was an honor to know him. Soares was a longtime friend of the rapper
Anthony ‘Fif’ Soares, 33, was in the lobby of a Toronto building (pictured above) waiting to be buzzed in just before 3am on September 14 when two men opened fire on him
The graphic footage showed the 33-year-old standing in the lobby trying to buzz into the building when the two hooded men ran up and fired shots through the glass door.
Soares, who was holding takeout food at the time, immediately collapsed but the two men continued to shoot at least a dozen rounds each.
One of the men could be seen wiping finger prints from the door and firing one final shot before they both fled in a white Ford Fusion driven by a third suspect.
Soares was rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency surgery but he later died.
The second video released by police shows the getaway car pulling up and speeding away after the attack.
‘In essence, the deceased was trapped between the inner foyer area and the offenders who were on the opposite side of the glass,’ Detective Sergeant Gary Giroux from Toronto Police Homicide unit said.
The graphic footage, which was released by police on September 14, showed two hooded men running up and firing shots at Soares through the glass door
Soares, who was holding takeaway food at the time, immediately collapsed but the two men continued to shoot at least a dozen rounds each at close range
Soares (left), who was one of Drake’s longtime friends, was rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency surgery but he later died
Drake took to Instagram to mourn his friend in the hours after his death and declared that it was an ‘honor’ to have known him.
‘RIP to one of our family members… our brother… I still can’t even believe this morning was real,’ the rapper wrote.
‘It was a honor to have shared years together and I will always keep your memory alive…Forever Fif.’
Soares, who was known to police, had a toddler daughter with his girlfriend.
‘Drake was a friend of his,’ Detective Giroux said.
‘I certainly would encourage (Drake) through his tweets to encourage anybody within the community to come forward with regards to any information that they have that may assist in solving his friend’s murder.’
Police don’t believe the killing was gang-related.
‘Certainly, it was very targeted. It was very focused. Certainly, it was overkill,’ Detective Giroux said.
The second video released by police shows the white getaway car pulling up and speeding away after the attack