Toronto police have identified the city’s latest homicide victim following the discovery of a body in a north-end school yard Thursday morning.
Daniel Davis, 27, of Toronto, was found suffering from gunshot wounds shortly after 1 a.m. near the Flemington Public School, in the Lawrence Avenue and Allen Road area.
He is the fourth person to be killed by gun violence in the city this week. Police say there is nothing suggesting that Davis’ death is linked to a mass shooting that killed two in Scarborough on Monday.
Police said officers were called to the Lawrence Heights area by reports of gunshots. After a brief search, Davis’ body was found on a basketball court near the school’s playground. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Friends in the neighbourhood referred to Davis as “Snoop.” He is the city’s 30th homicide of the year.
Several Lawrence Heights residents told CTV Toronto that they were fearful of living in the neighbourhood after the shooting, just the latest incident of violence to hit the community.
One woman claimed it was impossible to step out of her front door without being forced to dodge bullets.
Det. Mike Carbone said security camera footage from the school was likely to help in the investigation and appealed for witnesses to come forward.
“I am confident we will speak to witnesses in the neighbourhood,” Carbone told CTV Toronto. “It is a good community and we expect they will rise to the challenge and give us some information.”
The shooting death comes on the heels of the murder of 42-year-old Clayton Wright. Wright died after being shot once in the chest at the end of a soccer game near Jane Street and Eglinton Avenue, Tuesday night.
On Monday, Shyanne Charles, 14, and Joshua Yasay, 23, were killed at a block party in Scarborough’s Kingston-Galloway neighbourhood. Twenty-three others were hit by bullets when a confrontation led to a violent and public gunfight.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said on Thursday that he was dedicated to putting a stop to gang violence in Toronto and would meet with the premier and police chief next week to establish a path forward.
Ford has said he would ask the province for more funding for police officers. He also said that creating jobs was the best way to cut down on the level of gang violence.
“I deal with some of the toughest youth in the city, coaching football. I will be at a practice tonight, up in Rexdale,” Ford told reporters. “I know what these kids need; I know what they want and where they come from. They are not looking for a handout. They are looking for a job. They feel good when they go to work all day. They feel important, have a sense of self-pride.”
Ontario’s attorney general also weighed in on Toronto’s prevalence of gun violence on Thursday, saying the province will push the federal government to establish a ban on handguns.
“The most important thing is to get handguns off our streets,” John Gerretsen told CP24. “I realize there are a lot of illegal handguns that this law may not deal with directly, but the more we can do collectively, as a society and between all three levels and orders of government, to get guns out of our system the better it is for everybody.”
With files from CTV Toronto’s Tamara Cherry
