Police search for suspects after sisters shot

Bullets sprayed into East Toronto neighbourhood where children were playing

TORONTO — A close-knit Toronto community was questioning the safety they once took for granted as police searched Friday for a man who sprayed bullets into a local park, injuring two young sisters as they played among other children.

While residents struggled to come to terms with the gun violence that sent the girls aged five and nine to hospital, the city’s mayor pledged “swift justice” for those responsible and said the perpetrators had no place in Toronto society.

The brazen daylight shooting was the latest in a recent string of gun crimes in the city, several of which have taken place in bustling areas.

In the east Toronto neighbourhood where the girls were hit by bullets intended for another target, residents said they were focused on the impact the shooting would have on the community they no longer see as a safe haven.

“This is where they play every day, right next to where they live,” Grace Ballantyne, a longtime resident said of the small park where 11 children were playing around 5 p.m. Thursday. “I was shocked.”

The playground has long been a hub of activity for the children of the east-Toronto complex, said Ballantyne, adding that the shooting was unprecedented in her nearly 28 years of living there.

The violence at the heart of the community has left the 69-yearold and her neighbours feeling as though they’re “not safe anywhere,” she said.

Toronto’s mayor had harsh words for the perpetrators as well as anyone else involved in gang activity, which police say has spiked slightly in recent months. John Tory, who decried the playground attack as “unacceptable” and “cowardly,” said he hopes to see “swift justice” for anyone involved. “Those who would fire into a playground full of kids playing with so little care don’t deserve to be among us here in the society that we’re building in Toronto and elsewhere in our country,” he said.

“And I say that, too, to all of those involved in ... the gang subculture and the guns. You will be caught, you will face the full weight of the justice system, and you will not terrorize our city and our neighbourhoods that are within it.”

Ontario premier-designate Doug Ford expressed similar sentiments as he pledged further resources to Toronto and Ottawa police for tackling gang violence.

“That’s a problem, we have a bunch of thugs running around the city with guns shooting people,” said Ford, offering thoughts and prayers to those dealing with the “heartbreaking” situation. “These innocent two little kids, being shot in the streets of Toronto. What’s this city coming to?”

Toronto police spokesperson Mark Pugash questioned the portrayal of a city in crisis.

While acknowledging a recent increase in gang activity in some areas, he said police figures suggest gun crime is only slightly elevated from levels seen in the past few years.

By this time in 2015, police had recorded 118 shooting incidents. The number surged to 168 by this time in 2016, fell back to 151 last year, and currently stands at 181 as of June 11 this year.

The city has also recorded 41 homicides in 2018, but that figure has been inflated by a deadly van attack that killed 10 people in the space of a few minutes in April, Pugash said.

“Has there been an increase (in gang activity), yes there has,” he said. “We have responded with some success. We will continue to do that, and I am absolutely confident that we will continue to see arrests, charges and guns off the street.”

Police allege Thursday’s playground attack was carried out by a man who fled the scene in a small black car driven by another man. They said their hunt for both the alleged gunman and getaway driver is ongoing.

The two girls were both taken to hospital for surgery, but are now in stable condition.