Two of four gunmen still at large after 'Baby Shark' themed birthday party shooting in Toronto

Two years after a horrific gunfight at a one-year-old’s “Baby Shark”-themed birthday party in Toronto ended with three children shot in the crossfire, one of their dads is facing more than a decade behind bars and a community is trying to heal.

But there are still many questions about what sparked the fight that day, with a judge in the case pointing out that it’s still unclear which of the three gunmen shooting towards the crowd actually hit the children, with two gunmen remaining at large.

“Unfortunately, for them, this is still a traumatic experience,” said Marcel Wilson, a former gang member who works with that community as part of the One by One Movement.

“They’re doing better, but the trauma that results from these things is long-lasting,” he said.

Responding to a question from CTV News on Wednesday, Toronto Police Insp. Norm Proctor said he was at that scene and remembers it well.

“I can tell you that the investigation continues. We never close a case,” Proctor said. “I can assure you teams of investigators continue to work that case.”

Video played at the trial of one gunman shows what was supposed to be a happy event, with balloons over the young child’s name in large letters in the courtyard of a building on Tandridge Crescent in North Etobicoke.

But soon, a man in a red hat, Kevin George, and a man in black, Demar Cadogan, can be seen arguing. A woman tries to intervene, but George pulls a gun prompting Cadogan to fire back. A firefight begins as people scatter.

The court found four men fired a total of 22 rounds of ammunition. Cadogan was shot in the legs. Police arrived to find three children hit: a five-year-old in the head, an eleven-year-old in the buttock and a one-year-old grazed on the forehead.

Another security tape shows gunmen running off. One trips over a fence, falls, and then keeps running. Police bodycam footage shows the chaos as multiple squad cars converge on the birthday party, and officers and others tend to the wounded.

George was sentenced in May to 11 years for his role in the firefight. Justice Peter N. Fraser pointed out that George is the father of the injured one-year-old.

“Mr. George endangered the lives of a great many people, young children among them…he has chosen to embrace criminality and to act without any regard for the laws of this country or the safety of other people, even members of his own family,” he wrote.

Fraser said despite five witnesses testifying, none identified the shooters or explained how or why the incident occurred.

To figure out who one gunman was, the crown compared the man in the red hat in the surveillance video to pictures and rap videos of George to confirm his identity. He’s wearing a “Daddy Shark” t-shirt in one of those photos.

To figure out who one gunman was, the crown compared the man in the red hat in the surveillance video to pictures and rap videos of George to confirm his identity. He’s wearing a “Daddy Shark” t-shirt in one of those photos. (CTV News Toronto)

Cadogan fired one shot away from the crowd and pleaded guilty, Fraser wrote in another judgment.

That leaves two people who appeared to be on George’s side in the firefight who haven’t been arrested or charged.

Wilson said people in the community would like their homes to be safer — but they understand there’s a risk with cooperating with the police.

“The narrative we hear is, if we speak out, what kind of protections are we getting? How are we going to be reassured that our community is going to be safe? It’s a double-edged sword,” Wilson said.

Wilson said he’s worried about the ripple effect of the violence in the community. He said it needs more resources to ensure the kids will go on the same path as he did and not succumb to the allure of the gang lifestyle or feel the need to carry guns.

There’s no way to know how someone can go from being a dad participating in a birthday party to a shooter that wounded several, including his own child, said Dr. Adam Ellis, a sociologist at the University of Waterloo.

But he said it’s important to understand the pressures of that world and the subjective history of each individual that can prompt someone to pick up a gun.

“A lot of this stuff is rooted in young men with distorted ideas of their own masculinity carrying heavy loads of trauma. It takes one incident, one person saying the wrong thing, and this is expressed through the barrel of a gun,” he said.