GUNS SEIZED
Police charge four after seizing drugs and guns near Regent Park,
In response to a rash of shootings in the Regent Park area, Toronto police have launched “Project Red Brick,” which aims to combat gun violence in the area.
“It’s been in the planning stages for a couple of weeks,” said Det. Sgt. Michael Richmond. Officially approved last Friday, police said the project’s first success was on Saturday, when officers executed a search warrant in the area of Gerrard St. E. and Bayview Ave. and seized four guns — including a sawed-off shotgun, a “large quantity” of ammunition and more than 500 grams of marijuana.
They say two adults and two young people were arrested and are each facing eight charges, including careless storage of a firearm, possession of a prohibited firearm with ammunition and possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. Richmond said the adults are not being identified because it might lead to the identity of the young people.
Toronto is on pace for one of its worst years for shootings, and may surpass even 2005, the city’s notorious “year of the gun,” according to recent police data. Police report there have been more than 50 firearm discharges in 51 Division from Jan. 20 to now.
Richmond said police decided to launch this initiative because of the increase in incidents involving gun vio- lence, but when reflecting on the beginnings of the project, there was one that stuck out to him in particular.
“You’ll recall about three weeks ago we had two shooting occurrences around the Regent Park area at River St., one of which involved a person who was standing on the sidewalk having a smoke and two persons going up to him and one holding a gun to his head,” Richmond said. The moment on May 23 had been caught on surveillance video and was released by police. In it, a man approaches someone who appears to be a stranger and levels a gun to his head before quickly lowering it and walking away as if nothing happened. Police said it seems he pulled the trigger, but the gun didn’t fire.
The image of the man frozen with the gun up was spread across the front page of Toronto Star on June 4, four days before Project Red Brick was cleared.
“Eight minutes after that (moment), there was a male shot in the lobby of an apartment building a short distance away by the same two individuals,” Richmond said. “Those two (incidents) were quite graphic and the video was quite compelling.”
Project Red Brick is named for the colour of the bricks of the original buildings in Regent Park.