An emotional father who found his son shot to death in the family's River Street townhome told reporters Tuesday that his boy had led a criminal life.

Nicholas Yombo, 18, had been a drug dealer, "and now he paid for that," Christian Yombo said.

On Monday night, the father paced the sidewalk outside the crime scene and told reporters, "I don't know. I'm spaced out man, I'm spaced out."

Det. Doug Dunstan, a homicide investigator, backed up Christian's bleak assessment of Nicholas, also known as "Frenchy."

The victim dropped out of school in Grade 9 and began a life of crime, he said.

"Nicholas basically ran his household. He did what he wanted, and his father was ill-equipped to deal with him," Dunstan said.

"Nothing deterred Nicholas from continuing onward with his life of crime."

Christian said: "I talked to him every day. But he didn't want to change."

Toronto police say they responded to a call at about 2:20 p.m. on Monday, after the victim's father arrived home to find his son had been shot to death in the living room.

The distraught father ran outside the dwelling, where he flagged down a passing police cruiser.

When emergency responders arrived at the Regent Park residence, they pronounced the victim dead at the scene.

The victim's brother came home and had to be restrained by police.

Police say Nicholas was to undergo a post-mortem examination sometime Tuesday.

The teen is the 29th gun-related slaying in 2010.

Area residents say they didn't see or hear a thing -- with one admitting he felt scared.

Investigators say they have no surveillance video that could help them identify a suspect.

The shooting is the fourth in the Regent Park area in the past few months, including two shooting homicides.

The victims in that case were friends of Nicholas Yombo, homicide investigators said.

Dunstan said families have to report the criminal behaviour of their offspring.

"They know it, they see it and they need to act on it to protect their loved ones from an end like Nicholas's and so many other young men," he said.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Janice Golding