Fatal shooting near CNE caps a violent day in GTA
Man shot in Coronation Park just outside Exhibition grounds fourth victim across region
A man was gunned down in a park across the street from the Canadian National Exhibition on Sunday evening, capping a violent 24 hours in which four people were fatally shot across the GTA.
Police received calls around 6:15 p.m. reporting multiple gunshots at Coronation Park, south of Lake Shore Blvd. W. and across from the Princes’ Gates. Officers found a man in his 30s suffering from multiple gunshot wounds near one of the park’s baseball diamonds. He died at the scene.
The waterfront park was busy at the time of the shooting, police said. A memorial barbecue for Kamal Hercules, a 21-year-old man who was shot dead outside a grocery store in 2009, was scheduled to be held there earlier in the day. A banner for the event hung from a park shelter as police cordoned off the area.
“Any time there is a shooting, especially one in a heavily populated area where there’s the opportunity for bystanders to be struck, is concerning,” said Toronto police Const. David Hopkinson. “We are talking about an area that is heavily populated on any weekend — it doesn’t matter if it’s the CNE or not.”
Police said four suspects were seen running away, and one was wearing a grey hoodie with a black stripe on the chest. Police closed the park as the homicide unit investigated. Across the street, the CNE remained open on its second-last day of the season.
The shooting, and another early Sunday in Malvern, in which a 30-year-old was killed, pushed Toronto’s homicide toll for 2018 up to 73 — seven more than were recorded all of last year.
In a statement, Mayor John Tory’s spokesperson denounced Sunday’s bloodshed.
“Gun violence anywhere in our city is unacceptable. The mayor remains focused on increasing funding for Toronto police and community programs to help crack down on gun violence and address the root causes,” Don Peat said.
“There is no magic solution to addressing gun violence but the mayor has been relentless in working to address the causes of this violence.”
Around 2 a.m., police responded to a double shooting on Alford Cres., near McLevin Ave. and Sewells Rd. in Scarborough, where they found two men lying on the ground. The victims were rushed to hospital, where one, identified as Rudolph Augustus Tyrell, was pronounced dead.
The other man, whose identity has not been released, remained in serious condition Sunday evening.
Police said they are searching for a male suspect who was wearing a black hooded jacket, black shirt, baseball cap and black pants.
Police tape ringed the area around a house. A neighbour said he’d heard “a few gunshots, like a round or something” around 1:45 a.m. He declined to give his name, but his partner, Meaghan Corbett, said it wasn’t the first time gunfire had been heard in the area.
Another neighbour said she knew one of the shooting victims but declined to comment further, saying only that it was “too close for comfort.”
Ryan Barnes, watching the investigating officers from across McLevin Ave., said he was distressed by the recent violence.
“This damn neighbourhood used to be quiet and peaceful. I’ve been here for three years in this part of Malvern. Why would this happen? … It’s utterly ridiculous. “Who would want to take someone’s life like that?”
Meanwhile, in Brampton, Peel police are investigating two related, targeted shootings that occurred six hours apart and five kilometres away.
Around 12:45 a.m., police found a man and a woman in their late 20s, both with gunshot wounds, in the back of a taxi near Vodden St. E. and Kennedy Rd. N.
They were taken to hospital, where 27-year-old Clifford Correia was pronounced dead. The woman was in critical condition Sunday.
Six hours later, on a residential street near Hurontario St. and Sandalwood Pkwy. W., police found Derrick McKeown “suffering from obvious signs of trauma,” according to a press release. The 33-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Police believe these were targeted incidents and appear to be related to one another. The investigations into each are ongoing,” the police statement said.
Chaplain Delroy Sherman, who attended the scene near Vodden St. E., said he consoled the man’s brother and was told the victims were boyfriend and girlfriend.
“I was on the scene a couple of hours and met one of the family members. They didn’t want to talk too much, but I was able to have some prayers with them and give them some comfort,” said Sherman.
Peel police Const. Danny Marttini said the suspect from the first shooting was wearing dark clothing and fled in a darkcoloured Ford F-150. Police previously described the suspect as a white male, but that is now in question as new information has come in, said a Peel police spokesperson.