Shot Port Hope boy out of hospital

Struck in head by stray bullet during Eaton Centre food court shooting

A 13-year-old Port Hope boy has been released from hospital just over a week after he was struck in the head by a stray bullet during a shooting rampage at the Eaton Centre in Toronto.

Toronto Police say the boy, one of five innocent bystanders shot in what is believed to have been a dispute between members of a Regent Park street gang, was well enough to check out of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto on Sunday.

“It’s excellent news,” Const. Tony Vella said Monday.

The boy’s name can’t be revealed because a justice of the peace i mposed a publication ban last week preventing the naming of all surviving victims of the mall shooting.

But his family has said the youngster was visiting Toronto with his mom and older sister June 2. They were at the Eaton Centre and had stopped by the food court for a bite to eat when the gunfire erupted sending shoppers running for their lives.

One man was killed, another later died in hospital, five people were wounded and a pregnant woman was trampled in the frenzy.

One of the two dead man, Ahmed Hassan, 24, a 23-year-old man who was critically wounded and the alleged gunman, Christopher Husbands, 23, are all thought to have ties to the Sic Thugs gang.

And the shooting may have been retaliation for an incident in February in which Husbands was beaten, stabbed and robbed.

Most of the innocent bystanders suffered fairly minor injuries and were treated and released from hospital within 48 hours.

But the 13-year-old boy was rushed to Sick Kids where he underwent “complicated” neurosurgery, according to his family. A piece of his skull had to be removed because of swelling to his brain.

“But he’s back home with his family now and he’s doing well,” Vella said.

Meanwhile, police are reminding any shoppers who left belongings behind in the mall mayhem and have not yet reclaimed their property that they can do so by calling 416808-7400.

Police are also still interested in talking to anyone who was in the food court that day and has not yet been interviewed. And they continue to appeal for any photos or video shot during the shooting.