The concern over rising gun violence in Toronto is again making headlines following a mass shooting at an OVO Fest after-party.
Two people were killed and three others were injured in the overnight shooting that began inside a packed Toronto nightclub.
Following the shooting, Deputy Police Chief Peter Sloly confirmed there has been an “uptick” in shootings throughout 2015.
At a news conference Tuesday, Sloly said the number of shootings in 2015 has been “on par with 2012.” That year saw fatal shootings at the Eaton Centre and at a barbeque on Danzig Street.
“It seems there’s a cycle every four years and we’re trying to figure out why,” Sloly said.
“We’ve assigned some of our best officers to suppress violent crime… and despite that, we have seen an uptick in crime,” he said.
In June, police also expressed concern over the availability of handguns after a 14-year-old girl was fatally shot at a friend’s home.
“It’s unbelievable the amount of guns in the city,” Toronto Police Det. Rich Petrie said at a news conference in July.
“And people are using them.”
The statistics
The latest year-to-date police statistics show that shooting injuries and deaths in Toronto are up over 58 per cent so far this year, when compared to 2014.
As of Aug. 4, 95 people have been killed or injured in shootings this year, up from 60 in July 2014. Of those 95 victims, 12 were killed and 83 were injured.
The number of shooting occurrences (when someone is shot or shot at) in 2015 is also much higher than in 2014. There have been 147 shooting occurrences so far this year, compared to 106 at this time in 2014.
Police say the number of victims who were shot or shot at in 2015 is up an alarming 84 per cent compared to 2014. So far in 2015, there have been 244 shooting victims. By July of 2014, there were 132.
At the end of 2014, there were a total of 196 shooting victims in Toronto. Of those, 27 were killed.
During the so-called "year of the gun" in 2005, firearms were used in 52 of 80 murders.
Police rely on public to reduce gun violence
Police say they “rely on the public” to alert them about guns around the city.
“In almost every single (shooting) instance, somebody is aware of the gun and they choose to turn a blind eye,” Petrie said.
Toronto police have launched a mobile crime-reporting app in the hopes that more people will come forward with crime prevention tips.
Police have also released a map of where shootings have occurred across the city in 2015. Each red dot indicates a shooting occurrence.
All data is from the Toronto police website.
