Gun violence continues to leave Toronto’s Jamestown community on edge, after two men were hospitalized with bullet wounds on Tuesday evening.
Shots were fired near Jamestown Crescent and John Garland Boulevard just after 7 p.m.
Two men, believed to be in their 40s, were walking home from a nearby plaza when they were hit. They were able to make their way inside the nearby townhouse complex to seek help.
They suffered serious injuries, police said, with one man shot in his upper body and the other on his lower body.
“Multiple gunshot wounds to one individual – to the back, legs, arms area – and the other individual received gunshot wounds to the arm,” Toronto police Supt. Ron Taverner said.
Police don’t believe the two incidents are related, nor do they believe the victims were targeted.
“We believe it is gang related, but neighbourhoods are targeted opposed to individuals sometimes,” Taverner said.
“That’s even scarier than just having a targeted person.”
The rash of seemingly random gunfire has left residents in the community feeling perpetually unsafe.
“The family is shaken, the family is saddened,” said Keaton Austin, a community pastor at the Abundant Life Assembly church.
“This is senseless.”
According to Austin, one of the two men shot on Tuesday lost his teen son to gun violence in the very same neighbourhood back in 2013.
“It’s craziness,” he told CTV News Toronto. “The first time it was his son… How much more will it happen?”
Less than two weeks earlier, bullets fired in the neighbourhood narrowly missed an eight-year-old boy who was walking to buy a popsicle nearby.
The boy’s mother showed up at Tuesday night’s scene in shock.
“It’s disgusting. I don’t know what to say anymore,” she said.
“There’s always kids here playing. This yard is always full of kids… They have total disregard for anybody else’s life.”
Austin urged all levels of government to do more to quell the violence. He pointed specifically to what he says are broken street lights that leave the neighbourhood in complete darkness after the sun sets.
“Walk around and you can see – the entire corridor is black. They’re brand new lights, but the lights aren’t working. People have to use their front yard lights to brighten the place. Enough is enough,” he said.
“What is this community turning into? I’m pleading with the government to do things now.”
Hours earlier, a shooting in Brampton left a man in his 20s with critical injuries.
Rev. Delroy Sherman said he was at the scene in Brampton before heading to Jamestown to offer comfort to the community and families impacted.
He echoed Austin’s concerns, urging change for the communities “in crisis.”
“We’ve been saying all along that we need more help from the government,” he said.
“It’s all well and good to say, ‘We love our city, we love our community’ but we need to see the government leaders step up to the plate and come and sit with us. It’s all well and good to get some guns off the street, that’s not enough. It’s all well and good to throw money and resources at crime, but that’s not enough.”
No arrests have been made in connection with either shooting.
Police say the Jamestown Crescent victims saw two male suspects flee the area on foot, but didn’t get a good enough look at them to provide a description.
It’s believed both were armed, as investigators found shell casings in the vicinity from two different guns.
