BRAMPTON -- An intense hunt continues for a gunman who fired the deadly bullet from the darkness that struck nine-year-old Kesean Williams as he watched TV in his home Wednesday.

And though leads are sparse in the heinous murder, Peel Regional Police are confidant it's only a matter of time until they catch the killer who disappeared into the night.

"We will find out who did this," Const. Fiona Thivierge vowed Friday at the scene "It's like a needle in a haystack but slowly when you take away the hay, you're left with the needle."

The Williams family's home at the end of a row of townhouses on Ardglen Dr., near Kennedy Rd. S. and Clarence St., was still cordoned off and under police guard.

A mobile command unit and numerous police cruisers remained parked on the street.

A make-shift memorial of teddy bears and candles has sprouted up outside the family's backyard.

Steps away, a single hole was visible in a main floor window.

Kesean was on the couch watching television with his brother Kajan, 15, around 10:30 p.m. when a bullet pierced the glass and struck him in the head.

Their mom, Tanya Garvey, arrived home to the horrific news soon after.

Kesean died in hospital early Thursday.

Who killed the boy and why remains a mystery.

Investigators believe the home was targetted, but they don't think the bullet was meant for Kesean.

Homicide detectives are still trying to rule out the possibility the older brother may have been the intended target and they are also looking into the previous residents.

Garvey and her two sons, who relocated to Brampton from Hamilton five months ago, only moved into the home last Friday.

Some area residents said the house, or one of the surrounding units, was occupied by a crack dealer in the past.

Those who live in the townhouse complex have mixed feelings about the neighbourhood.

One woman, who didn't want her name used, said "there was a lot of trouble here" when she and her husband moved in six years ago.

There were domestic fights and drug dealing but things got better after residents complained, she said.

However, the side driveways "still aren't lit properly at night," and people still use the dingy back parking lot "for drugs."

"This is the type of crime that bothers even people who commit crimes," Thivierge said. "Everybody has a code they live by."

She suspects even hardened criminals, disgusted by the boy's shooting, will want to help put the killer behind bars.

-- Files from Ian Robertson