It’s been a violent weekend marked by gun violence. In the USA, 2 mass shootings, in Toronto 16 people were shot in various incidents and even here in Niagara a shooting incident injured two men.
Toronto police attended a shooting near Yorkdale shopping centre where one victim was transported to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. A second victim was later found with non-serious injuries.
Then around 2:15 a.m. on Monday at a nightclub called District 45 in the city’s northwest, five people were shot. One of the male victims had life-threatening injuries but he was later upgraded to non-life-threatening condition, according to police. The other victims had less serious injuries.
Hours later, at around 4:20 a.m., two people were sent to hospital following a shooting near Church and Adelaide Streets, near Toronto’s financial core. One of the male victims had life-threatening injuries and the other male victim was sent to hospital in serious condition, paramedics said.
More bullets flew on Sunday in the Liberty Village area. There were reports of eight to 12 bullets unleashed in the dense residential neighbourhood at around 3:30 a.m. More shots were fired in the afternoon and a male victim was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
There was also a shooting at around 6 a.m. Sunday in the Bridle Path neighborhood at a home that had been rented on Airbnb. One male victim was sent to hospital with life-threatening injuries but his condition was later upgraded to non-life-threatening. Airbnb has suspended the listing.
Saturday was also violent day in the city’s northwest. Two people were injured by bullets Saturday afternoon near Dufferin Street and Lawrence Avenue West. One had serious injuries and the other had minor injuries.
According to the most recent Toronto police statistics (as of July 29), there were 98 shooting incidents so far in 2019 with 18 deaths and 106 people injured. By the same date in 2018, there were 102 shooting incidents with 30 deaths and 103 people injured. 2018 and 2019 saw a higher number of deaths and injuries from guns compared to 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Locally in the Niagara Region, two men suffered serious injuries after police say a motorcyclist drove through a Niagara Falls strip club parking lot and fired off multiple shots before speeding off.
Emergency crews were called to the Sundowner on Lundy’s Lane around 1:52 a.m. Friday as a result.
Police are still searching for 28 year old David Joseph wanted for a shooting incident on Willoughby Drive in Chippawa Friday night.
Shooting Statistics in Canada
There were approximately 7,100 victims of crimes involving guns in Canada in the most recent statistics of 2016, including 223 gun homicides. That same year, there were 2,026,011 firearms licenses in Canada.
According to Statistics Canada, there has been a sharp rise in reports of thefts of firearms. There were 1,116 reports of break-and-enters committed to steal firearms in 2016, up from 276 in 2009.
USA
Mass shootings in America seem like a never-ending nightmare that continued on Saturday with a shooting in El, Paso, Texas, killing 20 people and injuring 26 more. On Sunday, a shooting in Dayton, Ohio, killed at least 10 and injured 26 more. The weekend before, a shooting in Gilroy, California, killed four and wounded 13 others, while yet another shooting in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, killed six and injured two.
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