Second bystander killed in Mississauga since July

GUN VIOLENCE

For the third time in just over two months, innocent bystanders have been killed or injured by gun violence in and around Toronto, stirring memories of similar incidents dating back to 2005.

Jonathan Davis, 17, was killed Saturday evening when as many as 100 shots were fired at a Mississauga parkette, leaving four other teenagers and one adult injured.

The incident comes just weeks after a bystander was injured in a shooting in Toronto’s Lawrence Heights neighbourhood. The other three victims were targeted, said Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders at the time.

In July, 24-year-old Jackeline Keji Gore was fatally shot outside a bar in Mississauga. Police said the suspect was shooting at a target, but one of the bullets struck Gore.

“It’s a different circumstance when it’s someone who is doing everything that they should, doing everything right, and they’re still a victim for no reason,” said a friend of Gore’s family, who requested anonymity.

“I can only imagine what it’s like to be told that someone that has nothing to do with any crimes or anything terrible was involved in this and that they’ll no longer see them ever again. It’s senseless, and it’s ridiculous that we’re continuing to see these incidents so frequently.”

Toronto became outraged over such incidents in 2005, when 15-year-old Jane Creba was killed on Boxing Day — and six other bystanders were injured — amid a gang-related shooting on Yonge Street.

But there were more to come.

In January of 2008, John O’Keefe was walking past the Brass Rail strip club on Yonge Street when a dispute inside led to gunfire. O’Keefe was killed by an errant bullet. Less than a week later, Hou Chang Mao, 42, was working at a market in Toronto’s East Chinatown area when he was shot and killed. Police said he was not the intended target.

In March 2018, a 29-yearold woman was killed outside a Toronto bowling alley. A 32-year-old man was also killed. Police said the man appeared to have been targeted, while the woman was a bystander.

Peel Regional Police chief Chris McCord said the shooters in the most recent incident in Mississauga fired “indiscriminately” and investigators have recovered more than 100 shell casings from the scene. He said the targets were planning to shoot a rap video in a parkette behind an apartment complex. The perpetrators wore dark clothing — some in balaclavas — and approached the targets on foot.

“This was an ambush-style attack,” McCord told reporters. “The attackers had complete disregard for public safety within our community.”

Selma Alincy has started an online fundraising campaign to help Davis’s family make funeral arrangements. She described the teen as a high school student who was also learning the electrical trade.

“My friend found her son’s lifeless body on the ground outside of her complex. This is something no parent should ever bear witness to. That day will forever remain in her memories,” she wrote on the fundraiser website.

Davis was on his way to his father’s home Saturday evening but headed back to change his shoes, she wrote. That’s when the shots rang out, she said.

“If he didn’t turn back to go into the house, all of this wouldn’t have happened.”

The incident fell on the city’s Crime Awareness Day, which featured an annual event hosted by the Mississauga Chinese Business Association at a public space called Celebration Square. The intention of the day was to teach citizens how to protect themselves and their property to prevent crime.

Jonathan Davis