This article originally appeared on VICE Canada.
The father of an 11-year-old girl, who was found dead in his home last week after he allegedly abducted her, died in hospital on Wednesday night.
Roopesh Rajkumar was facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of his daughter Riya Rajkumar. He’d been in the hospital for a self-inflicted gunshot wound since last Thursday when an Amber Alert was first issued by police to notify the public of Riya’s disappearance.
The alert was issued late on Thursday night after Riya’s mother, who got worried when Rajkumar didn’t bring Riya home after taking her out for her birthday, told police he had made comments suggesting that he could harm himself and his daughter.
Rajkumar was arrested by the Ontario Provincial Police in Orillia, shortly after Riya’s body was found. He was found by police after a member of the public saw his license plate, listed in the Amber Alert notification, and reported it.
Peel police say the gunshot wound wasn’t discovered until he was transferred into their custody and taken to the hospital.
His death came on the same day that hundreds came out to mourn Riya at a candlelight vigil in Etobicoke.
“My daughter Riya was taken from me too early,” Priya Ramdin—who did not attend the vigil—said in a statement read by acting Peel police chief Chris McCord.
“She never liked to be negative and always saw the good in every situation. If I’m ever upset, she would say ‘Mama, don’t be sad, look at the positives.”’
“She touched a lot of lives with her laughter and contagious big smile. It breaks my heart to know I will no longer be seeing that smile, hearing her voice, and never having her in my arms again.”
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