Toronto shooting witness recounts violent night
Md Ashaduzzaman was working a routine kitchen shift at a cafe in Toronto’s Greektown when he heard the gunshots. The screams broke out moments later - among them were cries of a woman calling for someone to help her daughter.
Ashaduzzaman rushed into the dining area to find 10-yearold Julianna Kozis bleeding from a gunshot wound to the thigh. He held her, tried to keep her from losing consciousness and eventually saw paramedics take her away.
It was only two days later that he found out Julianna was one of the two people killed in the shooting spree on Danforth Avenue that also injured 13 and ended with the death of the gunman. Since then, Ashaduzzaman said he’s been in disbelief.
“I wasn’t expecting her to die,” he said. “I’m feeling really tired ... I’m shocked.”
Ashaduzzaman said he clearly remembers the chaos that erupted on Sunday night.
“People ran to the back of the restaurant,” he said, his voice quivering. “And then I heard a woman crying and yelling, ‘my daughter’ and to call an ambulance.”
That’s when Ashaduzzaman and his colleague ran over to Julianna, who had been sitting at a table near the front window of Caffe Demetre.
“I was holding her and I looked at her and said, ‘stay with us. It’s going to be OK. Look at me,”’ he said. “I was trying to wake her up. She was losing consciousness.”
Julianna was bleeding heavily, Ashaduzzaman said. A man who appeared to be her father was also injured, he said.
“He was lying down, it looked like he couldn’t move his leg,” said Ashaduzzaman, adding that a boy who appeared to be Julianna’s brother was sitting nearby and appeared to be in shock.
“Everybody was crying and everybody was scared.”
In the days since the shooting, Ashaduzzaman said he’s felt drained, but is working to cope.
His workplace has offered counselling to staff, who will be returning to work next week, he said. Ashaduzzaman said he hasn’t yet decided if he’ll take up the offer of counselling, or take more time off work.
“I’m trying my best to move on,” he said.