Five people were gunned down and three others were seriously injured during a violent Labour Day weekend in the Greater Toronto Area.
The first shooting took place at just before 5 a.m. on Friday in the city’s east end, near Burnhill Road and Warden Avenue. Alpha Conteh, 24, of Toronto, was killed. Toronto Police are looking for one male suspect and a getaway car.
On Saturday, at approximately 3:40 a.m., two men boarded a TTC streetcar near Spadina Avenue and King Street West and stabbed a 24-year-old man after an apparent altercation. Police released security camera footage of two suspects they say are wanted in connection with the attempted murder investigation.
The following day, just before 2 a.m. on Sunday, Toronto Police were forced to deal with yet more gun violence in the city’s east end, this time in the area of Alford Crescent and McLevin Avenue. Rudolph Augustus Tyrell, 30, of Toronto was killed. A second man was treated for gunshot wounds. Police are seeking at least one male suspect.
That same night, police just west of the City of Toronto in Peel Region dealt with two deadly shootings involving three victims. The first shooting occurred around 12:40 a.m. in the Vodden Street East and Kennedy Road North area of Brampton. A male and a female were targeted while sitting in the back of a taxicab. The 27-year-old male victim, Cliff Correia, later died in hospital. The female was in stable condition as of Monday.
At around 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning, Peel Police were called to the scene of a second shooting, this one at Sunforest Drive and Sandalwood Parkway East in Brampton. Georgetown resident Derrick McKeown, 33, was pronounced dead at the scene in what police say was also a targeted shooting.
Hours earlier, McKeown had appeared to address the shooting of the injured female in a Facebook post. "Omg baby stay with us and don't go to heaven please lord please don't take her from me you make sure she doesn't die she was shot,” his page reads.
Friends told CTV Toronto McKeown was a positive and caring man who loved his son.
Peel Police arrested 27-year-old Patrick Doyle of Brampton and charged him Monday with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in connection with the shootings.
The deadly weekend wasn’t over yet. On Sunday evening at around 6:15 p.m., gunshots rang out again, this time in a busy park near Toronto’s waterfront. Toronto Police say Michael Lewis, 30, of Markham, Ont., was approached by four males and shot with a handgun at close range at Coronation Park near Lake Shore Boulevard, just southeast of the Canadian National Exhibition grounds.
Toronto Police Det. Amanda Thornton said Lewis was attending a memorial barbeque for Kamal Hercules, who was murdered nine years ago. Thornton said Lewis had a “very minor criminal record” but she would not comment on whether he had any gang affiliations.
She said Lewis was a father of two and was expecting a third child. His pregnant partner and two kids were at the memorial when he was killed, according to Thornton.
Toronto Mayor John Tory said the violence in his city is deeply troubling but there is no “magic answer.”
“We’re just going to have to keep doing what we’re doing: more support for the police, changes to the (gun) laws ... and investing in kids and families,” he said Monday. “We’re doing a record amount. We need to do more.”
Tory has been pushing the federal government for a handgun ban, saying it would be worthwhile even if it saves just one life. The City of Montreal and some Vancouver mayoral candidates also support a ban. So do many Canadians. A recent survey conducted for CTV News found that two out of three support or somewhat support a handgun ban with exceptions for police and security officials.
With reports from CTV Toronto’s Sean Leathong and Miranda Anthistle
