Accused men in court after shooting spree injures five

Three of four men facing multiple charges in connection with a shooting spree that injured five people Thursday evening remain in custody after making their first appearances late Friday afternoon.

Akeem Bailey, 25, Clifton Vassel Youria, 29, and Maurice Smith, 21, all of Toronto, made appearances at the court at 1000 Finch Ave. W around 3 p.m. Friday. The fourth suspect, identified earlier in the day by Toronto Police Services as Daniel Duarte-Alvarez, 20, of Mississauga, was remanded from the hospital.

The spate of gunfire happened in front of a Toronto Community Housing townhouse near Jane St. and Driftwood Ave., across the street from Brooksview Middle School in the Jane and Finch area. A number of people were standing in front of the townhouse when a second group approached and opened fire on the first group, police said in a statement released Friday; five people, including one woman, were injured.

One of the victims received lifethreatening injuries and underwent surgery Friday, said police, who estimated the injured were between the ages of 20 and 40.

That was not the last gunfire of the night; a short time after the attack, according to the province’s police watchdog Special Investigations Unit, a male was shot while police investigated a vehicle on Elmhurst Dr., near Islington Ave. and Rexdale Blvd. His injuries were described as not life-threatening.

The four people arrested after that vehicle stop have been charged with a combined total of 112 offences, police said in a statement. All are charged with five counts of attempted murder, five counts of discharging a firearm with intent to wound and endanger life, three counts of unauthorized possession of a firearm, and two counts of possession of a firearm knowing the serial number has been tampered, among others.

At the scene of the shooting, members of the community who gathered with police and community partners for a neighbourhood debriefing and walk-around Friday evening were shaken up. “It’s sad to see that things like this happen, and it’s even sadder that it’s happening more and more often,” said walk participant Muna Mohammed, who lives in neighbouring Firgrove and has acted as a tenant representative for TCH for nearly six years.

Mohammed, who also sits on the city’s task force on community housing, said she was pleased to see more than a dozen residents show up, but had hoped for a better turnout. Police, city representatives and grief counsellors outnumbered locals, she said.

“I think, because of what happened (Thursday), a lot of people are still in shock. I don’t blame them, but I think some of them should have come out.”

Toronto Police Superintendent Tony Riviere said the intent behind the walk was “mostly optical,” to send a clear message to the perpetrators that the police will not be deterred from their commitment to creating safe neighbourhoods.

Riviere called the relationships between communities and the police a “work in progress . . . Folks here are telling us they want to be policed, but not over-policed.” With files from Katherine DeClerq and Louise Brown