TORONTO -- Family members and the victims of a 2018 shooting rampage on The Danforth have filed a multi-million-dollar class-action lawsuit targeting gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson.
The suit was filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Monday and seeks at least $150 million in damages.
Ken Price, whose daughter Samantha was injured in the shooting, is one of the plaintiffs. Speaking with CP24 Monday, he said the suit was born out of a desire to do something positive.
“What we want to do is something constructive that will help other people so that they don’t have to go through what we’ve been through,” Price said.
Among the claims in the suit, the plaintiffs argue that the manufacturer failed to install smart technology in the weapon that would have prevented unauthorized use of it and that it was reasonably foreseeable that the gun might be used to kill or injure innocent third parties.
“Why isn’t there more technology that helps to secure the usage of that gun so that somebody can’t arbitrarily get a hold of it and use it as a weapon of hate?” Price said.
The suit cites a 2000 agreement between the company and the U.S. government in which Smith & Wesson said that it would incorporate smart gun technology in new firearm designs by 2003.
“Despite the agreement, in 2005 the defendant introduced the Smith& Wesson M&P (or Military and Police) 40 series, the model of the handgun used in the Danforth shooting, which failed to include smart gun technology,” the suit reads.
The allegations have not been tested in court.
Gunfire rang out along a busy stretch of the popular Toronto street on a warm summer night on July 22, 2018, sending people scrambling for their lives and barricading themselves in shops.
The gunman, Faisal Hussain, became involved in a shootout with police and took his own life.
When the gunfire was over, two innocent people were dead – 10-year-old Julianna Kozis and 18-year-old Reese Fallon. Thirteen other people were injured, some suffering life-altering physical injuries.
The weapon used in the shooting had been reported as stolen by a Saskatchewan gun dealer in 2015.
Hussain, 29, had a long history of mental health issues and had been in and out of treatment for years. Police have said they don’t know where he obtained the gun or what motivated him.
Price said he and the other plaintiffs felt that they “owed it” to Canadians to try and get better technologies implemented that would make it harder to misuse firearms.
Price’s daughter’s Samantha was out celebrating a birthday with seven friends when the shooting broke out. She and several of her friends – including Fallon – were shot.
He said none of those affected will ever truly get over what happened.
“So many victims have said this – you never really get past it, you live with it. So I think we’re learning to live with it as are the other victims who are part of the suit,” Price said.
He said he’s pushing forward with the suit to take a stand for his daughter, who’s doing her best to live a normal life.
“You look at your little girl and think ‘wow.’ First of all I admire the fact that she’s been so brave and has sort of moved on. She’s at university and she’s getting on with her life and she does not want this to define who she is,” Price said. “I think for a lot of people it’s difficult to do that. So I think Samantha has been brave and fierce and I want to do right by her.”
Smith & Wesson could not immediately be reached for a comment.
