TORONTO – The violence does not seem to stop. Ten shootings followed one another in Toronto over the weekend, five of which took place on Sunday. Those seen in the streets of the city are scenes from far West: the sad toll is of numerous wounded and four dead.
The latest victim of this deadly gun violence was a taxi driver who around 9:45 a.m. on Sunday evening was hit by bullets while he was in his car near Pharmacy Ave. and Eglinton Ave. And in Scarborough. Upon their arrival, Toronto police officers found a Beck taxi against a fence and the driver injured unconsciously. For the man, rushed to the hospital, there was nothing to do. On the asphalt were found by investigators numerous shells.
And again on Sunday morning around 3 a.m. a 17-year-old boy was found seriously injured inside a vehicle on Highway 427, near Eglinton Ave. W. Officers believe, however, that the shooting took place in the area of Dixon and Martin Grove Road.: the teenager was allegedly hit by a moving car that then continued north on Highway 427.
It is not clear to the police where and when a woman who arrived at a hospital in Toronto around 5 am was hit by bullets: her injuries were judged serious but the victim according to the doctors is not in danger of life.
Instead, at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday morning, a man was injured inside the Top Star Music Recording Studio on Eglinton Ave. W and Oakwood Ave.: The victim, a man in his thirties, is hospitalized with serious injuries.
The injuries sustained by a man in the area of Parliament Street and Wellesley St. E. are also serious: the agents have located, in addition to numerous shells on the ground, also a loaded firearm.
So far this year there have been 71 homicides in Toronto – 37 were murders with firearms. In 2020, there were 71 homicides throughout the year, 38 with firearms.
Sunday’s shootings follow Saturday’s shootings in which three people were killed within 15 hours. And in the wake of so much gun violence, Toronto Mayor John Tory calls for changes to the bail system: “I understand the presumption of innocence, but I also believe that when people are a risk to public safety and benefit from bail that allows them to go out awaiting trial and sometime they are charged with firearms offenses, those people should be kept in custody.”
However, Criminal Lawyers Association President John Struthers says he is not pointing the finger at the bail system. “Bail is not the problem – he said – if you are accused of a crime with firearms, the chances of getting bail are very low”.
