Weekend of gun violence in Toronto results in 17 shot, mayor seeks help

TORONTO — The federal government should play a more active role in curbing gun crime in Toronto, the city’s mayor said Tuesday after a particularly violent long weekend involving 14 separate shootings.

John Tory said he has already been in contact with at least one federal official after 17 people were injured over a three-day period. While no one died, several of the shooting victims remain in hospital.

The mayor said he hopes to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the coming weeks to reiterate a call for a handgun ban and appeal for more financial support to help stem the tide of gun violence.

“Even though our city is very safe, we have an acute problem as we’ve seen this past weekend,” Tory said in a telephone interview.

“The city is the biggest in the country by quite a margin. And so I think that means we need a share of the resources to be devoted to a place that’s not only bigger, but has a problem in this area. I will be looking for greater support from them.”

The federal Public Safety Minister’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the weekend incidents, which were widely spread out from Toronto’s downtown core to near its northern boundaries. The government has said more must be done to address gun violence in general but has signalled that no new measures will be taken before the fall election.

The long weekend incidents included a shooting at a north Toronto nightclub that sent five people to hospital, as well as one believed to have taken place at an Airbnb rental in one of the city’s most exclusive neighbourhoods.

The spate of violence prompted Toronto’s police chief to appeal for public help in solving the various shootings, in which no arrests have been made to date. Hours after Mark Saunders’ call for witnesses to share information, however, two more shootings took place and added another three victims to the weekend tally.

Tory said he’s been told the bulk of the shootings were targeted.

He said his initial anger at word of the weekend violence soon gave way to frustration, noting the municipal police budget saw the biggest spending increase relative to all other departments this year. He said new officers are also being hired.

The mayor said it’s too early to tell whether those increases are bearing fruit, noting it’s difficult to track progress by looking at any statistic in isolation.

Data gathered from Toronto police paints a complex picture. While the number of gun-related homicides so far this year stands at 19, compared to 30 recorded by the same point in 2018, the number of overall shootings and people affected by them has gone up year-over-year.