Playground shooting leaves community stunned
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. on 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-year-old and her neighbours feeling as though they’re “not safe anywhere,’’ she said.
If that feeling persists, it would mark a drastic shift for a community that resident Albert Tsui views as particularly trusting.
“We are a very friendly community here,’’ said Tsui, who lives next door to the girls and said he’s accustomed to seeing them and their family members nearly every day.
“We say ‘hi,’ we say ‘bye,’ and honestly sometimes we forget to lock the door.’’
Evidence of Thursday’s violence was still visible around the playground.
Ten bullet holes, meticulously numbered by police and circled in black marker, dotted the wooden fence that separates the small play space from a condominium parking lot.