TORONTO – The student of the David and Mary Thomson Collegiate, Jahiem Robinson, would have been killed with a single bullet exploded from close range. The suspect, who is only 14 years old and cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was arrested by the police: he is charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder.
From the first investigations conducted by the murder squad of the Toronto Police, which today held a press conference, disturbing elements emerge: the boy would have pulled the trigger against a second victim but the gun jammed. “The video of the shooting appears to show an execution, the accused ran after Robinson and shot him point-blank range,” said Inspector Hank Idsinga.
The bloodshed happened around 3am on Monday afternoon near the back doors of the school at 125 Brockley Dr. Scarborough (in the pic above).
The suspect, the police said, not only shot Robinson in the back but also began to chase another boy: after reaching him he would have pointed the firearm at him but this, fortunately, “made a fuss”.
A murder, this of Robinson (in the pic above) who attended grade 12, considered by investigators “targeted”. Inspector Richard Harris, a spokesman for the Toronto Police Service, said that “the entire first floor of the school” is a crime scene.
Toronto Police Inspector Idsinga did not talk about what the reason for the shooting might be, but said there had been “contact” between the two teenagers before the incident. Until yesterday, the police had not yet recovered the gun used by the fourteen-year-old.
What creates great concern, however, is the escalation of shootings among the boys. Deputy Police Chief Myron Demkiw said officers are working closely with the City in an effort to uncover the root causes of gun violence among young people. “The murder of a boy inside a school where students should feel safe is shocking to all of us,” he said.
Demkiw added that a third of the murders that took place in the city in 2022 involved victims or killers under the age of 20. “This fact is disturbing, something needs to change,” he said.
Demkiw’s words were echoed by those of the mayor of Toronto who condemned what happened. “Schools need to be safe places,” Tory said, “I realise how scared people can be of all this. For me it is heartbreaking that young people in our city lose their lives because of firearms.”
The mayor did not hide his dismay at this social scourge that is undermining society. “How is it possible, first of all, that a fourteen-year-old has a gun? How is it possible that the fourteen-year-old decides to take the gun to school? How is it possible that the fourteen-year-old decides to use the gun? – concluded the mayor bitterly – these are not superficial questions. On the contrary, they are deep and complicated questions that we have to start dealing with.”
