Toronto mayor to ask Ontario for more police officers after spate of shootings

Allison Cross? Jul 18, 2012 ? 3:42 PM ET | Last Updated: Jul 18, 2012 5:03 PM ET

On the heels of three high-profile summer shootings in Toronto, Mayor Rob Ford plans to ask the Ontario government for money to hire more police officers to bolster the city?s anti-guns and gangs strategy.

?That?s why I have to go and talk to the premier,? Ford said Wednesday during an interview with CP24. ?Hopefully he can help us out.?

The mayor made his comments just days after two young people ? a 14-year-old girl and a 23-year-old man ? were gunned down during a community block party in Toronto?s east end. More than 20 people were sent to hospital with gunshot wounds.

Darren Calabrese/National Post

A photo of shooting victim Joshua Yasay is posted on the growing vigil in a bus stop near the scene of Monday night's fatal shooting in Toronto.

City police have called it an unprecedented incident of gun violence and have vowed to track down those responsible.

Authorities suspect gangs were involved and say they have one injured ?person of interest? in custody.

Monday?s incident came only weeks after a gunman opened fire in a crowded food court in Eaton Centre, killing one man instantly and wounding another another man who later died in hospital.

Last month, a shooter gunned down a 35-year-old man with gang ties on a Little Italy patio in what appeared to be a targeted attack.

CP24 host Stephen LeDrew asked Ford whether social programs in Toronto?s priority neighbourhoods, which are quickly running out of funding, will get any help from City Hall.

?The best social program is a job, and if you can entice people to get to the city, create jobs, kids are going to be working until 10 0r 11 at night,? he said.

?They?re not going to running around, shooting each other. So we have to get the business people in here. We gotta clean up the city.?

?Handing out free money? is not a solution, Ford said.

Ford also vowed on Wednesday to run thugs who ?use our city as a shooting gallery? out of Toronto and to pressure the prime minister to impose stiffer penalties for anyone convicted of illegal gun possession.

Ford said he will fly up to Ottawa next week if that?s what it takes to get a meeting with Stephen Harper.

?I want meetings, I want something to be done. I want these people out of the city and I?m not going to stop. Not put them in jail and then come back and you can live in the city. No, I want them out of the city. Go somewhere else, I don?t want them living in the city anymore,? said Ford, who toured the scene of the Danzig Street shooting Tuesday.

Aaron Vincent Elkaim / The Canadian Press

Neighbours watch as police walk by the scene of a shooting on Danzig Street in Toronto that killed two people at a barbecue on Monday evening.

As concerns mount over the possibility of retaliatory attacks after Monday?s shooting, city police have said they will protect those still reeling from the incident.

?We are very concerned not only with the quick resolution and solving of this crime but the potential for retaliatory violence, which we often see in this type of event,? police chief Bill Blair said yesterday.

The shootings have sparked angry conversations on social media from members of the community that raise the possibility of retaliation.

Several people wrote with eerie prescience about a looming confrontation at a Scarborough block party Monday, where dozens of residents planned to socialize and sip Hennessy cognac.

?Father God, guide and protect my friends from thy enemy tonight. Let us not war but party,? one young woman Tweeted.

Another message stated bluntly: ?I know nuff places we can leave bodies.?

After the shooting, an?intricate post on Reddit, a social news website where users can submit content, detailed what the poster believes happened at the shooting using?entries?from Twitter.

The posts express anger and sadness over the deaths of 14-year-old Shyanne Charles and 23-year-old Joshua Sasay. The users say they know Charles, although their identities haven?t been independently verified.

In one post, a user with the name @KaaiDuub tweeted: ?This is not even the end of it ? This is Shyanne?s people we?re about taking. Now it?s gonna be war.?

In another post, user @Built2Dominate tweeted: ?The reaction to this event is gonna be outrageous. Keep your heads down [and] watch who you?re with this summer.?

A user with the name @Weirdaux tweeted: ?Mandem aren?t gunna let this slide easy.? The term mandem refers to a group of thugs or a street gang.

In addition to pleading for witnesses to come forward, police are also asking anyone with video or photos of the incident to send them to authorities.

Alex Urosevic for the National Post

Family members and friends hold vigil for Shyanne Charles in Toronto's east end on Tuesday. Toronto police have identified the two victims of Monday's barbecue shooting in Scarborough as Shyanne Charles, 14, of Toronto and Joshua Yasay, 23, of Ajax. They both died after gunfire erupted at an outdoor community barbecue.

The shooting at the event which drew about 200 people has left many area residents in shock.

?I?ve got my two granddaughters living with me here. I brought them up from Trinidad to be safe from this type of violence and it?s right around my corner,? said Bruce Strachan, who has lived in the area all his life but is now considering moving away.

Ford, who called the shooting a ?horrible tragedy,? is reassuring residents that Toronto remains a safe city despite a string of recent high-profile shootings.

?Everyone has to move on and carry on with their life,? he said.

On Tuesday night, Toronto recorded its 29th homicide of the year when a 42-year-old man was shot and killed at a soccer field in the west end.

With files from The Canadian Press and Natalie Alcoba, National Post

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NP_Top_Stories/~3/MlSr0k4sOF8/

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