Homeless in tents fight City of Toronto in court to remain in parks

A group of homeless people will be in a Toronto court on Thursday seeking an interim order to allow them to remain in their tents until their constitutional challenge of an eviction order by the city is heard.

The group, which includes 14 men and women living in several encampments across the city, and their supporters have launched an application that asserts the city’s eviction threats violate their rights.

At issue is a local bylaw that bans camping or living in parks after midnight. Enforcement provisions require 72 hours notice before an eviction, but the city has threatened to kick them out with less than 24 hours.

The city, meanwhile, said in court filings the Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not entitle the group to live in parks.

“Parks are not places to live,” the city said in court documents. “They are shared community resources, intended for shared use by all members of the public.”

Selwyn Pieters, a lawyer representing the coalition, said the city has effectively stopped evicting those living in tents after the group launched the legal action in mid-July.

“The numbers in encampments have risen dramatically in the last few weeks and we expect it to get much worse as time goes on,” Pieters said.

Hundreds of people began living in makeshift encampments throughout Toronto as they fled shelters for fear of contracting the novel coronavirus. The city initially put a moratorium on evictions in the parks due to the pandemic, but began clearing camps in May.

That led to standoffs between those living in the encampments and city workers, who sometimes showed up with heavy machinery to clear the sites.

The city is also undertaking a massive relocation effort by depopulating shelters, buying or leasing hotels and vacant buildings to house the homeless. The city says they have moved about 2,000 people into new shelters, hotels and community spaces and another 2,000 people have been moved into permanent housing _ a 50 per cent increase from the same time last year.

In court documents, the city alleges the encampments are not safe.

“There have been frequent incidents of violence and human trafficking, fires, and unsanitary conditions in the various tent encampments in the city’s parks,” the city said.

Staffers have collected more than 10,000 used needles over a three-month period this summer, the city said.

It also said 13 of the 14 individuals in the case have been offered housing or shelter services and eight of the applicants accepted offers of hotel spaces and five of those remain there.

Pieters said forcing encampment residents to take whatever the city offers does not mean it can evict them if the residents refuse.

“Many of these temporary spots are far from the services these people need every day, so throwing them in midtown or Scarborough doesn’t really help,” Pieters said.

“There is a homeless crisis right now and this is about the city’s subpar response to that during the COVID-19 situation.”

The city disputed that claim.

“The city’s efforts have been extraordinary in helping find shelter, interim housing and permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness during this pandemic,” said city spokesman Brad Ross.

“It has secured hotels, vacant apartment buildings, and opened city facilities to create physical distancing that ensures safe, indoor space.”

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Police bust illegal casino in Markham, seize 20,000 sq. ft. mansion and $1M in cash

TORONTO -- A 20,000 square foot mansion, more than $1 million in cash and 11 firearms were seized as police north of Toronto dismantled an illegal casino and spa.

Back in May, investigators with the York Regional Police intelligence unit and the guns, gangs and drug enforcement unit started a probe into illegal gaming dens, dubbed Project End Game.

The investigation was initiated after police said they received information identifying underground casinos operating throughout Markham, Ont.

“This is organized crime truly exploiting and demonstrating their money, their positions and opulence, thinking somehow that they are above the law,” Deputy Chief Brian Bigras said at a news conference held on Wednesday morning.

The first search warrant in Project End Game was executed at a commercial unit in Toronto on July 3. The property, located in Scarborough near Midland and Finch avenues, was “being run as an illegal gaming house,” police allege. At the time, officers seized more than $20,000, as well as gaming tables and video slot machines. Five people were taken into custody.

About three weeks later, the second search warrant in the probe was executed by members of the York Regional Police with the assistance of tactical teams from the Ontario Provincial Police and Durham Regional Police.

On July 23, 32 people were arrested at a 20,000 square foot residential property in Markham, Ont., located on Decourcy Court near Warden Avenue and Major Mackenzie Drive East. Police allege the $9 million mansion was being operated as a “high-end illegal casino.”

The mansion, which has 53 rooms, was restrained by police and 11 firearms with ammunition, $1 million in cash, $1.5 million in alcohol, and gaming machines and tables were seized.

Police said one of the firearms seized was a rifle fully loaded with a 30-round magazine. It was found inside a bedroom at the property and was “available within easy access to anyone in the room should a threat, or perceived threat, arise,” investigators said.

According to police, gamblers attending the Markham, Ont. property had “access to accommodation, spa treatments, beverage services, and high-end food,” including contraband items such as braised shark fin.

A third search warrant was executed in Project End Game one week later. Three people were taken into custody and more than $70,000 was seized at a residential property located on Woodland Acres Crescent near Teston Road and Bathurst Street in Vaughan, Ont. Police said “various documentary evidence relevant to the illegal gaming operations” was also obtained during this part of the probe.

Throughout the investigation so far, 29 individuals have been charged with a combined 74 criminal offences. Those charged are between the ages of 23 and 64.

Thirty-two investigators and 92 tactical officers from York Regional Police, Durham Regional Police and the Ontario Provincial Police have been part of the project thus far.

Operation initially called off after children spotted at mansion

Speaking at Wednesday’s news conference held outside of the mansion on Decourcy Court, Supt. Mike Slack said renovations at the residence are believed to have begun a few years ago, but the property only became known to them late last year.

After months of investigating the site, officers were ready to execute their search warrant on July 17, Slack said.

“Our helicopter Air 2 was utilized to conduct observations on the residence prior to that deployment,” he said. “While conducting the fly over, Air 2 noted the usual large number of vehicles and security personnel, but also identified over 20 persons, including six children, on the rear patio in the backyard.”

“These persons were seen in the patio area being served by employees and wait staff. It is unknown the reason for the special event, but the presence of children, armed security guard and guard dogs made an unsafe environment and the operation was called off.”

A week later the helicopter returned and the warrant was fully executed.

Investigation ongoing, human trafficking suspected

While announcing the charges on Wednesday, members of the York Regional Police said the probe is ongoing.

As part of the ongoing investigation, human sex trafficking is suspected to have been taking place at the Markham, Ont. property, Slack said.

“Our suspicion is as part of the accommodation and spa treatment that some of that trickles over into the exploitation of women working in that environment,” he said.

Furthermore, in light of this investigation, York Regional Police has initiated a new assignment, dubbed Project Double Down.

“Recently we have experienced an increase in violent crime in organized crime group activity here in the city of Markham,” Bigras said at Wednesday’s news conference. “York Regional Police takes offence to this utter disregard for public safety. I certainly know that our community takes offence. We have heard the complaints, we’ve heard the calls to action from our concerned citizens and we engaged immediately to deter and disrupt this activity.”

“As a result of this investigation we have initiated Project Double Down. Project Double Down is providing ongoing and continuous efforts to thwart and hold to criminal account members of the involved organized crime groups. It was mobilized to deter and disrupt the organized crime groups responsible for the recent rise in crimes.

Bigras said York Regional Police has also increased its uniformed presence across the community.

Anyone with further information regarding this investigation is asked to contact officers at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7817 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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Shaun Rootenberg 52, of Thornhill gets six years for bilking woman of life savings

A remorseless and incorrigible con artist who bilked a woman of her life-savings was handed a six-year sentence on Wednesday and ordered to repay the hundreds of thousands of dollars he stole.

In jailing Shaun Rootenberg for fraud, the judge described him as cold and calculating in his dishonesty for abusing his victim’s romantic feelings toward him.

“He does not in the least regret what he has done,” Ontario Superior Court Justice Beth Allen said. “He has been unimpeded by the constraints of the law.”

Allen had convicted Rootenberg, 52, of Thornhill, Ont., in May 2019 of bilking Victoria Smith of $595,000. The pair had met on the e-Harmony dating site in July 2013, shortly after his release from prison for previous frauds.

The judge ordered him to repay Smith $558,456 within five years of his release or be sent back to prison for another four years. She did give him 462 days credit for the time he had spent in pre-trial custody.

The married father of two declined to address the court before sentencing. His lawyer said afterward his client was disappointed with both the sentence and Allen’s characterization of him.

“He maintains his innocence and will be appealing both his conviction and sentence,” Bryan Badali said.

Smith was a divorced mother of two when she first met Rootenberg. She believed she had developed a “close, sharing and monogamous” relationship with a successful financier, who called himself Shaun Rothberg. Smith soon gave him $595,000 to invest for her.

Instead, Rootenberg used her money to buy himself a new BMW and pay off gambling and other debts.

Smith went to police about 18 months into their relationship after she accidentally discovered his real identity and learned he was similarly romancing another woman. The ongoing emotional and financial devastation he wrought on Smith was akin to rape, and left her suicidal and struggling to make ends meet, court heard.

“My life story has been written by a villain,” Smith had previously told court.

Prosecutor Mitchell Flagg said the penitentiary sentence recognized the trauma Rootenberg had inflicted.

“Major fraud is also a crime that affects society more broadly,” Flagg said. “The court recognized the need to deter and denounce this conduct.”

Allen also imposed a fine of $558,456, to be reduced by any amount he repays Smith. If he fails to pay the fine within five years of his release, he would be given a further four-year term. She also barred him from having any control of other people’s property or finances, and ordered him to provide a DNA sample.

Toronto police initially charged Rootenberg with defrauding a second woman, Dr. Kim Barker, but those charges were dropped. Barker resigned under a cloud as medical officer of health for the Algoma Public Health Unit in Sault Ste. Marie, in 2015 after her affair with him became known. She had hired him as Shaun Rothberg to be interim chief financial officer of the unit.

Barker declined to comment on the sentence.

Allen noted Rothberg’s “inglorious history” of frauds: He was convicted in 2006, and served a four-year sentence after a second conviction in 2009. His victims included his own brother, prominent psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Rootenberg, whom he impersonated and fleeced for $1.8 million.

Nevertheless, his victimized brother and a few others offered their support, something Allen found puzzling given Rootenberg’s criminal lifestyle, lack of remorse and “over-inflated sense of self-entitlement.”

Months after his conviction, Rootenberg argued unsuccessfully for Allen to declare a mistrial. He cited her refusal to stay the proceedings against him over problems with pretrial disclosure and his frequent strip-searches in prison.
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The Liberal gun ban now sits in limbo

The federal government has quietly withdrawn a call for bids from contractors to pay compensation to gun owners whose firearms were suddenly outlawed in the Liberals’ massive May 1 gun ban.

Back in August, the Trudeau government invited 15 of Canada’s largest accounting and consulting firms to submit proposals to run a program under which gun owners would receive tax dollars for firearms banned in the enormous spring crackdown.

Not one firm applied.

In typical bureaucratese, the federal explanation is “the process did not yield to the selection of a successful bidder.”

Really!? Among companies such as Deloitte, Ernst & Young, IBM, KPMG and Pricewaterhouse Coopers there wasn’t a single company that could satisfy Ottawa’s requirements to run the “buyback?”

Indeed, a senior source at the Ministry of Public Safety told me that far from there being no “successful bidder,” there were no bidders at all.

None of the invited companies took the bait.

My guess for the reason is overly complicated rules and a budget for payouts that was too low. No company wanted to be in charge of a program that was impossible to administer and insufficiently funded.

Officially, the Liberal government’s story now is that it is revising the criteria and will soon put the program out for bids again.

At some point.

Gun owners have every right to be suspicious of Liberal governments. Since the 1970s, successive Liberal governments have treated all gun owners like criminals and made it ever more difficult to own a gun legally, even for hunting or target practice.

So when the Liberals stopped looking for a firm to administer its buyback, naturally many gun groups interpreted this as a sign the Trudeau government no longer intended to pay compensation for the guns it had banned. Many gun owners now expect the Liberals just to confiscate the banned models without paying the owners for their losses.

I can’t say that isn’t the Liberals’ plan. They have done equally underhanded things to gun owners in the recent past (such as insisting they would never ban shotguns, then going ahead and banning several popular shotguns in the follow-up to their May 1 decree).

But here’s what I think the bid failure means: The gun ban is going to become another Liberal promise left in limbo.

The Trudeauites announced the gun ban to capitalize politically on Gabriel Wortman’s mass killing in Nova Scotia in April, the worst mass killing in Canadian history.

But now that they have to implement the ban, it’s too hard (and perhaps too expensive).

By the stroke of a pen, the federal cabinet has outlawed nearly 9,500 models and variations of rifles and shotguns. That’s as many as 400,000 guns.

The best-case is that compensating owners for all those guns will cost about $400 million. The worst-case about $1.2 billion.

And the administration will be very complicated.

For instance, a gun with a custom stock could cost hundreds more than the same model without tailormade parts. But whose valuation do the scheme’s administrators accept and who covers the legal costs of owners who feel ripped off and have to go to court?

Although the Liberals undoubtedly think they can succeed at getting enough guns turned in to lower Canada’s crime rate, they surely must know, for instance, that New Zealand’s recent attempt at a similar ban and buyback only encouraged about 20 to 30 per cent of gun owners to turn in their firearms.

And the buyback has had no impact on NZ’s crime rate.

So the Liberals will do what they do with most of their promises. They will do a lot of virtue-signalling about how they are making Canada safer, while doing almost nothing to follow through.
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Kurt Edwards, 43, of no fixed address, is suspected by York Regional Police in a series of hate-motivated graffiti in Vaughan

York Regional Police’s Hate Crime Unit needs help to locate a suspect wanted in connection with multiple hate-motivated incidents in Vaughan.

On Sept. 18, police say a male driver was in the area of New Westminster Dr. and Steeles Ave. when an unknown man began yelling anti-Semitic remarks at him. The victim began filming the suspect, who police allege then approached the vehicle and attempted to assault him.
Suspect ID'd in alleged hate-motivated incidents in Vaughan

Cops say that the incident is connected to six others that began on Sept. 18, involving graffiti written on garage doors and vehicles on Mullen Dr.

The graffiti was hate-motivated and referenced both the Black and Jewish communities, according to police.

A warrant has been issued for Kurt Edwards, 43, of no fixed address.

“York Regional Police does not tolerate hate crime in any form,” police said in a release Monday. “Those who victimize individuals based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or mental or physical disability will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7441, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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Josephate Tyran Martelly, 24, of Toronto, killed in north Etobicoke shooting.

 

A man killed after a brazen shooting in north Etobicoke on Sunday night has been identified by Toronto police.

On Sept. 27, police responded to reports of a shooting at a townhouse complex on Mount Olive Drive, west of Kipling Avenue at around 7:30 p.m.

At the scene, officers found a man in a hallway with gunshot wounds.

Police said life-saving measures were taken but the man succumbed to his injuries and died at the scene.

Another 21-year-old man was located at the scene and transported to Sunnybrook Hospital with serious injuries.

On Monday, police identified the deceased victim as 24-year-old Josephate Tyran Martelly, of Toronto.

Insp. Tim Crone said on Sunday night that police are looking for two suspects but a description has not yet been released.

Crone said police believe the suspects fled the area at a high rate of speed in a black SUV.

"It was right at twilight, so a lot of kids are still out with their families, and again it was a very cowardly, brazen act with absolutely zero regard for safety," Crone said to the media.

Crone also said the suspects fired in multiple directions and damaged an upstairs window of one of the townhouse units.

Investigators are also asking for two people who were with the victims at the time of the shooting to contact police.

"They fled the scene. We would like to speak to them as well again to find out who they are and make sure that they're not injured themselves," Crone said.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact police or Crime Stoppers anonymously.

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Toronto's wild weekend of shootings like a civil war

If five overnight shootings and a homicide in Toronto made news on Friday, are five shootings and a homicide over the weekend still of interest to you?

Getting tired of hearing about gang killings?

Either way, it was one wild weekend of gunplay. It’s like a Toronto civil war. East, west, south or north, it doesn’t matter to the shooters.

There was a shooting at Kipling Ave. and Mount Olive Dr. in which “two people (were) shot” with one “pronounced deceased” and another “taken to hospital by emergency run with life-threatening injuries.”

Dead is Josephate Tyran Martelly, 24, the 55th homicide of 2020. The other victim is a 21-year-old who has serious injuries.

Other gun incidents include a drive-by shooting at Jane St. and Shoreham Dr. where Toronto Police say one person was “shot in the upper back” with the possible suspect vehicle described as a black four-door car.

At Steeles Ave. W. and Tangreen Crt., a “man was shot in leg” and police put out a suspect description of a “male black” in his 20s, “5-foot-9, skinny, red hoodie, blue jeans, hat, and a do-rag.” He was last seen on Steeles Ave., heading west towards Bathurst St.

At Flemington Rd. and Amaranth Crt., there was a “drive-by shooting” where “seven shots (were) fired at a parked vehicle.” At Jane St. and Sheppard Ave., police found “27 shell casings” in a shooting where “two victims” were taken to hospital but “four firearms were recovered” and “two men were arrested.”

This puts Toronto at 382 shooting incidents year to date compared to last year, which had 42 less at this time. The number of wounded in 2020 now stands at 182 people, close to the 181 victims recorded at this time in 2019.

Sorry politicians, but Toronto Police are too busy to defund.

Mayor John Tory tweeted Friday “the gun violence” is “completely unacceptable” but noted interim chief James Ramer and his officers have had “recent successes” in “making arrests and seizing firearms in connection with incidents of gun violence.” He vowed his continued “support for their continuing efforts in this regard as it is completely unacceptable to have innocent people terrified in their own neighbourhoods.”

Tory also tweeted they will “continue to invest in kids and families to address the roots of violence” and urged “the federal and provincial governments to join in those investments, to toughen gun and bail laws and crack down on cross-border gun trafficking.”

On Newstalk 1010 Sunday, Tory reiterated Toronto “remains one of the safest places in the world” and while it is “disconcerting the way the numbers are working” there is “no magic answer.”

No magic is needed. Start naming the gangs.

Clean up the city parks and end the drug trade there. Bring back a TAVIS-style gang strategy and utilize modern technology to resume carding and collect needed intelligence.

Introduce no bail for serious violence and make violent criminals serve full sentences without parole.

Pay terrorized community members handsomely to testify against thugs and have a real witness protection and relocation program to help avoid retaliation. Open the jail cells again. Build more.

Drop political correctness narratives when fighting crime and criminals. Upgrade the TCHC housing units and complexes, including making them gated communities where you must identify yourself to come in and out. Create a program to help residents purchase their units.

It’s not like authorities don’t know who the gangs are. It’s just the system has become handcuffed and paralyzed to shut them down. Much of the crime emanates from a few parts of town so perhaps consider a curfew for travel in and out of those areas?

While magic is not the answer, neither is a failure to respond.

Adding up shootings every morning certainly isn’t going to help.
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Man seriously injured after shooting near Steeles Ave W and Tangreen in Toronto’s north end

Officials say a man suffered serious injuries after a shooting in Toronto’s north end on Saturday.

Toronto police said they were called to the area of Tangreen Court and Steeles Avenue West — on the border with Vaughan — at 9:18 p.m. for reports of a man shot in the leg.

Toronto paramedics told Global News a man in his 20s or 30s was transported to a trauma centre in serious, possibly life-threatening condition.

Officers said a suspect in his 20s was last seen heading westbound towards Bathurst Street on Steeles Avenue. He was described as being five-feet-nine inches tall, wearing a red hoodie, blue jeans, a hat, and a black satchel.

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Two suspects arrested after shooting at Sheppard Ave And Yatescastle in North York injured two people

Toronto police say two suspects have been arrested after a shooting in North York Saturday evening left two people injured.

Police responded to reports of shots fired outside a townhouse complex in the area of Sheppard Avenue West and Yatescastle Drive, east of Jane Street, shortly before 8:30 p.m.

Insp. Jim Gotell said when officers arrived, they located the suspects who were trying to flee the scene.

He said police and the suspects became involved in a vehicle pursuit which ended 600 metres away, near Eddystone Avenue and Oakdale Road, when they struck another police cruiser.

The suspects, a 27-year-old and a 28-year-old, were taken into police custody. There were no injuries reported in connection with the chase.

Meanwhile, officers located a male in his late teens at the scene who had been shot, Gotell said. He was transported to a local hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

A second victim made his way to a hospital, Gotell said.

Gotell noted that there were reports of a third suspect who fled the scene and hid inside one of the homes.

Members of the emergency task force, mounted unit and the canine unit were called to help with the search.

After hours of searching the residence, officers did not locate anyone inside, Gotell said.

He noted that police are confident at this time that there are no other outstanding suspects.

Officers recovered four firearms, Gotell said, and found approximately 27 shell casings at the scene.

“At this point in time, we do not have any further concerns for public safety in the area,” he said.

Investigators are now reviewing surveillance videos they have collected at the scene.

“This is a very large crime scene at this point in time between the area where the persons were shot and the area where the pursuit ended,” Gotell said.

Anyone with information is being asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.

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Man in his 20s seriously injured at Jane St and Chalkfarm in North York stabbing

A man in his 20s is in serious condition after being stabbed in North York Saturday night.

Emergency crews were called to Jane Street and Chalkfarm Drive, north of Wilson Avenue, just after 9 p.m. for reports of a stabbing.

Police said they received reports of a man stabbed multiple times.

A victim was transported to a trauma centre with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Police said there are reports that a second victim showed up at a hospital.

No suspect information has been released.

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2 suspects arrested after double shooting at Yatescastle Dr in North York

 Toronto police say two suspects have been arrested after a double shooting in North York Saturday evening.

Insp. Jim Gotell said officers were called to the area of Yatescastle Drive and Sheppard Avenue West, east of Jane Street, around 6:30 p.m.

He said two people were shot in a courtyard. A man was taken to hospital in serious, but non-life-threatening condition while the second victim went to hospital himself, officials said.

Gotell said when officers arrived at the scene, they also found two suspects who were fleeing.

Officers chased one of the suspects on foot and pursued the second in a vehicle, which was stopped around 600 metres away after crashing into a police car, Gotell said. Both suspects were arrested.

Gotell said four firearms were found at the scene and added that officers are investigating the possibility that there may have been a third suspect involved.

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Toronto paying $250Gs to consult on changing name of Dundas Street

Toronto’s executive committee has opted to pay $250,000 for consultations to rename Dundas Stin response to a petition that says the street’s name supports anti-Black racism.

Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, was a Scottish politician. The petition says he was active in obstructing the elimination of slavery in the British Empire between 1791 and 1806 while he was in politics.

The costs will develop a structure for consultation in the community, which would include those who live or own businesses on Dundas as well as Black and Indigenous voices.

Andrew Lochhead, who started the petition, says he supports “clear consultation.”

“It’s very clear (Dundas) is no longer a suitable candidate to have a street named after him,” Lochhead said during the executive committee meeting Wednesday.

Descendants of Dundas also voiced their thoughts about renaming the street to the committee.

Bobby Melville, who spoke to the committee via phone from Scotland, said Dundas was a realistic abolitionist who was against servitude.

“This man had no personal involvement in the slave trade,” Melville said.

Richard Dundas told the committee the street is named after the entire family, which includes doctors, lawyers, scientists and members of the military.

“I carry the name with pride. (The street) also carries the names of a pioneer family,” he said.

Jennifer Dundas told the committee her ancestor spoke against slavery.

“He believed it was contrary to humanity and justice,” she said.

“Black Lives Matter is at a critical point, and people need to know what they are fighting for.”

The city report outlines a framework to understand and respond to how systemic racism and discrimination may be embedded in city assets, commemorative programs, and naming policies.

The executive committee was also told that renaming the street could open the door to the renaming of subways, parks and libraries, which could be an incredibly expensive hole.

City council as a whole will vote on the recommendation for Round 1 of the proposed consultations.

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Who is trying to kill alleged London Hells Angels Robert Barletta?

TORONTO — Maybe the would-be assassins didn’t recognize Robert Barletta as he walked up to the home in Toronto’s Cabbagetown neighbourhood.

Perhaps they thought the alleged outlaw biker accused of involvement in a multimillion-dollar sports gambling ring would be wearing Hells Angels patches, red-and-white gear or other flashy clothing

But the founder of London’s Hells Angels chapter was sporting white sneakers, grey pants, a grey long-sleeved shirt and a black baseball cap as he passed the black Audi that had been parked on Ontario Street, just south of Gerrard Street, for nearly four hours.

Surveillance footage obtained by The London Free Press shows Barletta, 50, glimpse briefly at the vehicle – its engine running and headlights on – before walking past it and up to the red-brick house, seemingly unaware of the pending danger shortly before 7:30 p.m. March 30.

He unlatches the front-yard gate and is steps away from the home’s entrance when two armed men spring from the vehicle. The first man gets out of the passenger seat and is holding guns in both hands as he runs toward Barletta, who is now out of the frame.

The man fires four shots from the sidewalk before a second man emerges from the rear passenger side and lets off a burst from his handgun while standing in the street.

Both men continue to fire wildly while running backward to the getaway vehicle. Several people in a nearby Beer Store parking lot scatter.

None of the nearly 20 shots fired hit their mark.

But Barletta’s narrow escape shows he has made dangerous enemies and raises questions about why police have been tight-lipped about the incident, say organized crime experts.

“He has some serious problems with rivals in his own group and rivals outside,” crime author James Dubro said of Barletta.

Dubro speculated that the two triggermen were hired guns, a common tactic employed by organized crime groups, including outlaw bikers and the Mafia.

“There are a lot of incompetent hit teams around these days, and a lot of them are not very professional,” Dubro said. “They’re hiring them from street gangs.”

A Toronto police spokesperson confirmed nobody was injured in the shooting that damaged a building.

A vehicle with multiple people inside fled the scene, but no arrests have been made or arrest warrants issued for suspects, Const. Jenifferjit Sidhu said. “Police are still working on this investigation, it is still active,” she wrote in an email.

Police, who commonly notify the media of cases of gunfire, didn’t issue a news release on the shooting, or release the surveillance video in a bid to identify the shooters. It had not been seen publicly before it was obtained by The Free Press.

“The fact that the cops never mentioned this to the media is very bothersome,” said Yves Lavigne, the Canadian author of several books on the Hells Angels.

Putting out details of the shooting and releasing the surveillance video would show area residents that investigators are taking the threat to public safety seriously, he said. “That’s how you identify people. You get tips.”

Multiple residents on Ontario Street in Toronto, all of whom spoke on condition their names not be published amid fears for their safety, said investigators told them the shooting targeted a man who is known to police and had recently been released on bail.

Two police sources told The London Free Press that Barletta was the intended target of the shooting.

He’d been staying with his niece at the four-unit Ontario Street home, one of the sources said.

Barletta was released on bail earlier this year following his arrest aboard a plane at Pearson International Airport on Dec. 13, 2019, as part of Operation Hobart, an investigation into an alleged multimillion-dollar gambling operation that police contend was run by members of the Hells Angels and an alleged Toronto crime family.

Twenty-eight people, including three other Londoners, were charged with a combined 228 offences related to guns, gambling, participating in organized crime and tax evasion in the sweeping investigation that involved 18 law enforcement agencies and led to the seizure of $12 million in assets.

The now-retired head of the OPP’s biker enforcement unit, Anthony Renton, said the two-year probe was launched following a suspected arson on Jan. 5, 2018, at a home in Thornbury, a small town on Georgian Bay northwest of Collingwood. Nobody has been charged.

Property records show the now-destroyed luxury home at 363 Sunset Blvd. belongs to Salvatrice Barletta, believed to be Barletta’s mother.

One week after The Free Press reported that a home at 302 Commissioners Rd. in London was raided as part of Operation Hobart, the house was destroyed in a suspected arson. Nobody has been charged.

Sources linked Barletta to the house and its owner, Habiba Kajan, 44, with whom he’s jointly charged with gun offences and possession of property obtained by crime.

Two months ago, police laid additional charges against Barletta and seven others in connection with Operation Hobart, seizing another $24 million worth of assets.

In total, Barletta faces 15 charges including bookmaking, laundering proceeds of crime, fraud over $5,000 and commission of an offence for a criminal organization.

Barletta isn’t the first alleged biker with connections to the busted gambling ring to come under attack. Hells Angels member Michael Deabauta-Schulde, 32, was gunned down outside a Mississauga gym on March 11, 2019. Four Montreal men are charged with first-degree murder.

Deabauta-Schulde was involved in the online operation that made $131 million in illegal revenues over five years, police allege.

“There’s obviously ongoing violence associated to the outlaw motorcycle gangs. That’s why the multi-jurisdictional unit, the biker enforcement unit, was formed to deal with that,” said OPP Det. Staff Sgt. Scott Wade, who leads the joint forces operation.

“We know we can disrupt, we can even dismantle criminal organizations and outlaw motorcycle gangs, but the violence is still going to be associated.”

Wade directed all questions about the Ontario Street shooting investigation to Toronto police.

The roots of Operation Hobart go back to the 2013 police bust of the Platinum Sports Book gambling operation, which police say grossed more than $103 million in five years.

Barletta was charged in 2013 with bookmaking and possessing proceeds of crime. But the charges against him were withdrawn in January 2017. Barletta’s co-accused, Gordon Baird, who also faces new charges in Operation Hobart, pleaded guilty to a charge of bookmaking as participation in a criminal organization.

The only legal setback for Barletta, who is known as the Teflon biker because of his clean criminal record, came in 2014, when the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario revoked the liquor licence for his east London strip club, Famous Flesh Gordon’s, because of his outlaw biker ties.

But both Lavigne and Dubro say the attempt on Barletta’s life shows he has bigger problems than his criminal charges.

“Someone found out where he was and sent the shooters there,” Lavigne said. “He only would have told people close to him, so he’s got a rat in his nest.”

Dubro added: “I’m not so sure he’s so secure in the Hells Angels . . . If you’re a loyal Hells Angel, usually you’re protected.

“This is why organized crime is not a good career choice . . . There’s always people out to get you.”

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Maviya Tahir, an 18-year-old Toronto first-degree murder charge after fatal shooting in Leaside

One suspect is in custody in connection with the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old man in the city’s Leaside neighbourhood in June.

Police said at around 7:30 p.m. on June 9, a group of people were sitting in a parked car in the area of Vanderhoof Avenue and Research Road when suspects approached and starting shooting at the vehicle.

Two victims were found at the scene suffering from gunshot wounds and one was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The critically injured victim, identified by police as 20-year-old Toronto resident Maaz Jogiyat, later died in hospital.

On Thursday, more than three months after the fatal shooting, police confirmed that one suspect has now been arrested in connection with the case.

Maviya Tahir, an 18-year-old Toronto resident, was arrested earlier this week and has been charged with first-degree murder.

He is scheduled to appear at the College Park courthouse later this morning.

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Salim Slammy, 27 of Toronto charged after drugs, fully automatic submachine gun seized during raids

A 27-year-old Toronto man is facing 15 criminal charges after police allegedly located cash, drugs and a sub-machine gun capable of fully automatic fire during searches in North York this week.

Toronto police say that on Tuesday, officers conducted searches at two locations in North York; York Mills Road and Silverdale Crescent, and Beecroft Road and Sheppard Avenue, also searching two parked cars.

Inside, police allege they found $40,000 in cash, crystal methamphetamine, MDMA and cocaine, worth more than $128,000 on the street.

Investigators also allege they located two semi-automatic handguns and one sub-machine gun capable of "fully automatic" fire.

They also allegedly located two overcapacity magazines for the guns.

A man police identified as Salim Slammy was arrested and charged with 15 offences including possession of a prohibited firearm, possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of the proceeds of crime.

Slammy appeared in court at 1000 Finch Avenue West on Wednesday morning.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 416-808-3300.

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Toronto councillor Jim Karygiannis out after Supreme Court declines to hear appeal to stay in office

Jim Karygiannis is no longer a city councillor for Ward 22 after the Supreme Court of Canada said Thursday that it would not hear an appeal to a lower court ruling that found he exceeded his campaign spending limits.

In early August, an Ontario appeal court said Karygiannis could stay in office while he sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The decision by Canada’s highest court means he has now exhausted his legal options in the matter.

Karygiannis was first removed from office in November 2019 when City Clerk Ulli Watkiss said a review found that he overspent on his 2018 campaign by nearly $26,000, most of it related to a post-election party for donors at Santorini Grill in Thornhill.

The Municipal Elections Act clearly states that a person’s seat is vacated if they are found to have exceeded their spending limits.  

Speaking with reporters Thursday, Mayor John Tory wished Karygiannis well, but said the decision of the courts must be respected.

“Councillor Karygiannis has given a big part of his life to public service and to public life, and you're always sorry to see these things happen but the law has to be upheld and has to be respected and the courts have made a decision,” Tory said. “So I would just say to him ‘Thank you for many years of public service.’ It's always unfortunate when somebody's career in public service ends this way.

Toronto City Council must now decide whether to appoint someone to the seat or hold a byelection. A report laying out both options will go to council on Sept. 30.

Tory didn’t say whether he’d push for council to appoint someone to the seat or hold a byelection, but he did say that council will move quickly to make sure residents in the ward have representation.

“I'm very seized of the fact that those people in that part of Scarborough need representation once the seat is vacated,” Tory said. “And so we'll move as quickly as we can to deal with that and the rest will unfold as it should.”
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John Tory touts slow return of Toronto's film industry

Mayor John Tory says that the city’s film industry is “slowly getting back on its feet” after being brought to a virtual standstill earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic with the ongoing construction of three new sound stages in the city’s east end providing the latest cause for optimism.

Tory made the comment to reporters on Thursday morning as he visited Studio City on Lake Shore Boulevard East to check in on the construction of three new sound stages, which will provide an additional 70,000 square feet of space for film and television productions once completed in February.

He said that while the city’s film industry mostly “ground to a halt” in the late winter and spring it has been mounting a comeback in recent months with the city issuing 300 film permits since July.

While that number represents a fraction of the number of film permits that the city might expect to approve in more normal circumstances, Tory said that it is proof that things are “slowly but surely coming back to life” for an industry that has become vital to Toronto’s economy.

“I think what you see from all if this is a clear indication of the strength of the sector based on the very fact that you have hundreds of permits issued,” he said. “It is also my understanding that since the pandemic sort of got to its second stage the inquiries about coming here to produce films and television series have been increasing as well. “

Tory said that before the pandemic struck there was a clear need for additional studio space in the city with numerous projects underway to expand existing facilities or build new ones.

Then the pandemic stuck and there was a sudden halting of activity in the sector due to various public health restrictions.

Tory, however, said that “the good news is that when you are dealing with series or with films that are partly done it is always going to be the case that with so much invested they have to be finished.”

For that reason, he said that the industry is slowly returning to normal albeit with new “pandemic-driven restrictions” and challenges related to the ongoing partial closure of the U.S. border.

“I am very hopeful and optimistic that if we can all do our part and wash our hands, wear our face coverings and socially distance from one another that as these sound stages are ready we will be ready and able to accept more of the productions coming back and brand new ones coming to the city,” he said of the expansion underway at Studio City. “It (the film industry) is a very important sector in our economy but it is also vital to the creative reputation of our city as a place that welcomes innovation, welcomes creative people and is home to the creative industries.”

In addition to the new sound stages at Studio City, which are expected to more than double the capacity of the facility, Tory said that the city has also launched a request for proposals to develop a new film and television production studio on an 8.9 acre parcel of land in the city’s Port Lands district. That facility is expected to provide an additional 500,000 square feet of studio and production space.

Toronto’s film industry has pumped about $2 billion a year into the city’s economy in recent years, though that number will undoubtedly be lower this year.
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Suspect sought in alleged sexual assault of man in midtown Toronto

Images have been released of a suspect in the alleged sexual assault of a sleeping man in midtown Toronto last month.

Toronto Police say a 42-year-old man was asleep in the Mount Pleasant Rd. and Eglinton Ave. E. area on Aug. 14 when another man entered his room between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m.

Cops allege the second man sexually assaulted the 42-year-old, and then fled when he was confronted.

The suspect is described as 30-40 years of age and about 5-foot-8 with a slim build, and a shaved or bald head.

He was also clean-shaven and wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-5300 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477).

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Suspect arrested after package filled with syringes left at Toronto school

Toronto Police have tracked down a man they say left a package filled with syringes and “other paraphernalia” by a midtown elementary school.

The incident happened around 10 a.m. Tuesday at Eglinton Junior Public School near Eglinton Ave. and Mount Pleasant Rd.

Police are treating this as a mischief investigation.

According to investigators, Community Safety Team members saw a man leave a package by the school. When they looked inside it, they found the paraphernalia.

The man left the area riding a dark-coloured bicycle, investigators said.

At 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, police arrested 44-year-old Anthony Purchase of no fixed address, charging him with michief and failing to comply with probation.

He’s scheduled to appear in court Thursday morning.

Anyone with information is asked to call 416-808-5300 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).

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Toronto's City Hall turns 55 this year

Here’s another of those “I just can’t believe it” stories from the Big Book of Toronto Historical Facts (sure it’s a made up volume but I’m convinced it would make for fascinating reading).

It was exactly 55 years ago Sunday that what many still refer to as Toronto’s “New” City Hall was officially opened. To be historically accurate, from the day it opened, Sept. 13, 1965, it should have been referred to as Toronto’s “newest” City Hall.

Why? Because it was, in fact, the fourth in the list of our city’s structures identified as City Halls.

The first City Hall came by its title strictly by default when the municipal offices of the existing Town of York (as Toronto was known prior to being elevated to city status on March 6, 1834) — located in the little community’s Market Building at the southwest corner of King and New Sts. (the latter to be renamed Jarvis St.) — became, as I mentioned, and strictly by default, the location of the newly created city’s very first City Hall.

It was to retain that title for a mere decade until a purpose-built City Hall was erected in 1844-1845 at the southwest corner of Jarvis and Front Sts. A portion of this second structure, including the 1844 council chamber, is incorporated in what is now referred to as the South St. Lawrence Market.

A third City Hall opened in 1899 and still stands proudly on Queen St. at the top of Bay St. The fourth is our present and so-called “New” City Hall, the one that was officially opened 55 years ago today, to the west across Bay St from the third.

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Two people stabbed to death near King George Rd. and Church St., in Weston

A violent afternoon in a west end neighbourhood began with a man and woman brutally stabbed to death inside a home.

It ended with a third person, a man believed to be the killer, being struck and killed by an UP Express train on the tracks directly behind the house near Church St. and King George Rd. — north of Weston Rd. and Lawrence Ave. W. — where the slayings unfolded.

Toronto Police says officers responded just after 2:30 p.m. to a stabbing at the home where they discovered multiple scenes and the three deceased.

All three, whose names were not immediately released, were known to one another, Homicide Det. Sgt. Andy Singh told reporters at the scene.

Police were not looking for any outstanding suspects.

“We don’t believe there’s any threat to the community,” Singh said, unable to elaborate in the immediate aftermath of the deaths.

There was a heavy police presence in the neighbourhood and reports suggest heartbroken relatives visited the scene.

It’s believed the man who was killed by the train scaled a 40-foot wall behind the house after the deadly double stabbing.

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Toronto Trinity Bellwoods Park

http://www.TakeTorontoBack.com David Menzies of Rebel News and a cameraman venture out to Trinity Bellwoods Park (a large popular park in downtown Toronto) to document the growing illegal eyesore that is the tent city encampment as well as a playground being overrun by drug users.
David was going to contrast this scenario with the goofy social distancing circles that Toronto Mayor John Tory had drawn in the same park telling law-abiding citizens where they are allowed to sit.
Unfortunately, David was never able to complete my report. MORE: https://www.rebelnews.com/take_back_t...

Rebel News: Telling the other side of the story. https://www.rebelnews.com for more great Rebel content. 

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Funeral arrangements announced for slain Traynor family members

Funeral arrangements have been announced for the four family members who were slain in their Oshawa home earlier this month.

The Oshawa Funeral Home says on its website that a drive past visitation for Chris Traynor, his sons Bradley, 20, and Joey, 11, and his daughter Adelaide, 15, will held on Wednesday at 10 a.m.

A private funeral and interment will be held the following day.

Loretta Traynor, the children’s mother and Chris’s wife, was seriously injured in the Sept. 4 mass shooting.

A fourth child, Sam, wasn’t home at the time of the incident but is now by his mother’s side.

Durham Regional Police say the killer, Mitchell Lapa, 48, of Winnipeg, was a relative of the family and an “uninvited person” to the home.

The 48-year-old, who family and friends have identified as Loretta Traynor’s brother, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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Two who attacked and stabbed a man on O'Keefe Lane, on Aug. 28, 2020.

Just call it what it is — Toronto the Not-So-Good.

If you thought the shootings and beating — caught on videos I presented this week — were shocking, this may be worse. It’s a graphic, disturbing, eye-opening stabbing captured on video by a security camera on Aug. 28 that has now been released by Toronto Police in an effort to find two vicious attackers.


“We need your help to find these two suspects involved in a stabbing near Yonge and Dundas,” 51 Division Supt. Peter Moreira said in a tweet.

In the video you see two men tackle a man, appear to stab him five times while kicking him. On the ground the wounded man tries to get up and before he leaves, the stabber comes back and kicks the victim’s cellphone under a dumpster.

It’s pathetic. It’s infuriating. It’s Toronto.

“We need the suspects identified,” Moreira told me. “There are three women who were with the main suspect who we need to come forward.”

This is the perfect example of why Toronto needs a lucrative, call-in information line with large cash rewards as well as proper witness protection possibilities. The police need more resources to encourage people to come forward.

That said, you can call detectives at 51 Division, 416-808-5104, or Crime Stoppers anonymously reveal who these guys are.

Police have also releases images of the suspects.

But it’s the blood-curdling video that highlights the lack of basic human empathy that is so prevalent on Toronto streets this summer. If not for a veteran cop taking to Twitter, we may never even have heard of it.

“The victim was stabbed repeatedly,” said Moreira. “The gratuitous violence is concerning.”

While this victim is recovering from serious injuries, police are worried about potential future victims.

“We have seen these random and brazen attacks happening with more frequency,” said Moreira.

As Sue-Ann Levy reported in the Saturday Sun, the Bond Hotel — just steps away from where this violence unfolded — opened its doors to homeless and addicted displaced from the Mount Pleasant and Eglinton area on Aug. 21. With Yonge-Dundas Square already filled with vagrants and clients of an adjacent safe injection site and needle exchange, the city centre’s main tourism location has more people with issues in the area.

With that comes crime, drug abuse, violence and mental health breakdowns — not to mention stabbings, beatings and shootings. We care when innocent victims are wounded but Moreira is just as concerned that many of the victims are the vulnerable themselves. He points out many feel they have nowhere to turn when victimized.

“What concerns me is the unreported incidents like this because these addicts think they will be arrested for outstanding warrants, breaches of releases etc.” he said. “I don’t know how many unreported incidents happen but I know it happens since many calls result in our officers arriving after suspects and victims have already left.”

In this video, this man only received medical assistance when someone phoned 911 for an ambulance. His attackers are still on the loose — for now.

Is there still enough good left in Toronto for someone to come forward and help police put these assailants before the courts for attempted murder?
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Boston Celtics at Toronto Raptors NBA FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS September 11, 2020

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Abdiqani Mohamed, 35, of Toronto,wanted for assault, other offences

Toronto Police from the 23 Division Warrant Office in north Rexdale are looking for the public’s help locating a wanted man.

A warrant has been issued for Abdiqani Mohamed, 35, of Toronto, who is sought for two counts of failing to comply with a release order, two counts of assault, and mischief under $5,000.

He is described as having a thin build with short dark hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-2300 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

On Fridays, police in different divisions put out appeals to help find wanted suspects.
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Gun-toting gang bangers call the shots in Toronto

Toronto and the GTA is just lucky these gun-toting thugs with semi-automatics are bad shots.

Ever wonder what would happen if they learned shoot straighter? Watch out if they ever do.

The out-of-control rogue militia out there with illegal firearms and ammunition are already doing deadly damage.

Spiking shooting numbers show that. What statistics don’t show are the bullets flying that don’t hit anyone.

The outrageous shooting at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday outside an establishment at Eighth St. and Lake Shore Blvd. W., where more than 80 shell casings were found by cops, is an example.

One person was struck in the leg while many others dodged the dozens of bullets, which can stray in any direction and land anywhere — including in a nearby home or even in a child’s room.

Just listen to the gunshots in the video of the incident and picture each one of them hitting somebody you love.

Also, know that after the original day’s coverage, there won’t be much interest in such a shooting as society moves on to the next bullet hole or bleeding victim.

Instead we will hear taxpayer-funded talk about defunding police. That’s what the criminal element, and those who make excuses for them, are bucking for.

The police are a nuisance to the organized crime thugs and so are the courts and correctional systems. Weaken them all and shun, shame and name-call anybody who tells it straight will be the order of the day.

But not everybody is fooled. Not everybody is afraid.

“As a retired cop of 32 years, I must say I am excited to finally see some, albeit very few, columnists and reporters having the stones to actually challenge the politically motivated anti-police movement,” Gerry Kinnear, of Ottawa, said in an email. “The politicians and press, whether they agree with it or not, are too afraid to speak the truth when it is important to do so.”

He’s right. Many don’t want to hear or see the truth that is right in front of them.

The press should not just be recording, reporting and repeating shootings but should be condemning them. We have to be careful to not become complacent or accepting or even bored of the mayhem. Throw in the towel and the gangs will have full control.

Instead, police need to crush the gangs and take everything away from them. Park excuses and political correctness away for a few years and deal with this with legal tools like TAVIS, street checks, police in schools, rare bail, tough sentencing, deportations and tough love.

Defunding police should be replaced with more funding for police.

Sooner or later people may wake up and say enough is enough. But even with innocent kids shot in playgrounds and bystanders struck in cemeteries, while out for dinner in popular areas, driving along highways, standing outside bowling alleys or enjoying family barbecues, the public still tolerates this evil madness.

The reality is the people in charge have got it all wrong and they are no longer the bosses. People should defeat the failed politicians.

Officer Kinnear knows this more than anybody: “Perhaps others may one day come to the realization that allowing the criminals to direct the justice system may have been a bad idea. I just hope it won’t be too late.”

He’s right. We let the bad guys call the shots and they keep firing them.

Hopefully they don’t learn how to aim better.

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Iconic 'TORONTO' sign removed

Work has begun to replace an iconic part of Nathan Phillips Square.

The “TORONTO” sign, installed in 2015 during the lead-up to the Pan Am Games, was removed from its spot in front of Toronto City Hall Thursday morning, to be replaced with a new, more durable sign.

The original sign, said Toronto Mayor John Tory, was never meant to be a permanent installation, and hasn’t aged well over the past five years.

“It was literally only built to last for a few weeks,” he said Thursday afternoon.

“But what we saw convinced us to leave it a lot longer, and quite frankly, I think any thought we had of taking the sign away … would have been met with resistance from all of the people of Toronto.”

As the sign deteriorated, water became an increasing problem for the electronics inside, and the decision was made last year to replace it.

In December, Toronto-based custom sign maker Unit 11 was chosen to construct and install the new sign.

Tory said the sign’s two book-ends — the maple leaf installed in 2017 and First Nations medicine wheel in 2018 — were built as durable outdoor monuments and will be kept, although it’s unclear if they will be incorporated into the new sign.

“The ‘TORONTO’ sign was one of the top three most visited attractions in the city, and is consistently ranked as one of the most Instagrammable spots in the city,” said Tory.

The installation of the new sign will be complete by next week, and details on what it will look like will be announced in the coming days.

Primarily, a draw for shutter-happy tourists and selfie-seekers, the sign has often become a target of activists and vandals.

Earlier this summer, the sign was defaced with graffiti, the vandal scrawling “143 years of colonization” across it.

Design and construction of the new sign, removal of the old one, and a three-year maintenance contract will cost $761,842.
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Andre Rodriguez, 26, of Toronto gunned down in west-end Toronto Walmart parking lot

A normally-quiet Walmart parking lot turned into a scene of horror Thursday as a man was gunned down in broad daylight.

And the murder of the man identified by Toronto Police on Friday Andre Rodriguez, 26, of Toronto, may have started as an argument outside the St. Clair Ave.-Runnymede Rd.-area store.

“It’s scary because it’s normally so quiet here,” said Margarett, who did not wish to provide her last name. “I’m frightened because I shop here and we all have kids.”

Witnesses at the scene suggested the shots were fired during an argument between two men.

A man, who didn’t want to be named but works at an adjacent body shop, said he heard shouting before the shots were fired.

“When I got here, there were all these people around the body. I guess they had never seen one before,” he said.

Just before 1:45 p.m., calls came in for shots heard at a store at St. Clair and Mould Aves.

Police confirmed the shooting took place outside the Walmart. People continued shopping Thursday afternoon while homicide detectives conducted their investigation behind police tape.

Witnesses reported the victim was shot once in the head by the gunman.

Cops say they are looking for a single suspect, described as a Black male who fled westbound on St. Clair in a white SUV as the sole occupant.

A visibly distraught woman was seen being comforted by police officers, although her relationship to the victim — covered by an orange tarp next to an outdoor shopping cart corral — was unclear.

Police erected a large perimeter around the scene, leaving dozens of shoppers without access to their vehicles.

“I’m told I’ll be here for hours until the police finish,” said Nicolas, who had parked his car in the lot where the murder occurred.

Meanwhile, Toronto Police are also searching for those responsible for an apparent drive-by shooting in Little Manila.

Around 9:25 p.m. Wednesday, callers to 911 reported an unknown gunman in a red car firing into the patio of Marcelina’s Filipino Restaurant at 355 Wilson Ave.

One person was struck in the shoulder, and was rushed to hospital with serious, non-life-threatening injuries.

A second person was treated at the scene by paramedics after being grazed in the back by a bullet.

Other shots from the gunman struck the restaurant’s front window, a chair and a wall.

About two hours later, police were called to a restaurant at Bloor St. West and Brock Ave. for reports of somebody shooting through the front door.

Nobody was injured.

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Number of Toronto shootings climbing at an alarming rate

When you are counting the dead and wounded in Toronto, don’t forget to count the number of bullets fired, too!

They offer a clue on how something already horrifying could even be a worse nightmare. It’s already clownishly out of control.

Just look at what happened during the last 24 hours.

A man was murdered in a shooting at the Walmart at St. Clair Ave. and Runnymede Rd. during the middle of the afternoon; a shot was fired into a restaurant at Bloor St. and Brock Ave.; and two people were wounded during Wednesday night’s Toronto Raptors playoff game at an outdoor patio at Wilson Ave. and Stradacona Dr.

And there were other incidents of gunfire, too, including near a school at Kipling Ave. and Widdicombe Hill Blvd.

If you want to extend this mayhem to a 48 hour period, we can bring up the 80 bullets flying at an after-hours club in southern Etobicoke.


It all makes last week’s shoot up at Spence’s Bakery that saw six hit in a cowardly drive-by shooting seem like years ago.

What was that about defunding policing again Councillors Kristyn Wong-Tam and Josh Matlow?

Are you sure? Are you out of your minds?

It’s time for Mayor John Tory and Toronto councillors to get their heads out of the sand and take a look around. It’s ugly.

“On this beautiful and sunny day in Nathan Phillips Square we officially started the construction of the new Toronto Sign,” tweeted Tory Thursday. “The sign has become an iconic landmark in our city attracting residents from all over the city and visitors from all over the world.”

When installed, don’t light the sign up for as many days as there have been shootings. That will keep it dark for a few years. There is nothing to celebrate here.

Toronto is a dangerous war zone. Saying it’s safe is a lie.

Perhaps the Raptors and Blue Jays — and other teams so eager to partake in anti-police protesting — could boycott some games in angry protest of the murderous gangs ruining our great Toronto.

“We have to bring the hammer down,” Premier Doug Ford said this week.

Great words but for meant for people attending parties and weddings over social distancing and mask violations.

We need some disgust directed at the evil gun-toting gangsters who are the ones really in charge here.  Shooting at will wherever they like, gangsters must be laughing their faces off at the politically-correct and lame response directed at them!

If you keep count, Toronto is now at 350 shooting incidents for the 2020 pandemic year — 51 more than at this time in 2019. We are at 170 wounded or killed compared this time in 2019 when we had 167.

Who knows how many bullets have been fired and who they could have struck?

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Dozens of bullets fly on quiet south Etobicoke street

Residents of a quiet south Etobicoke street were startled awake early Tuesday by dozens of gunshots, leaving one man with serious injuries and scores more fearing for their lives.

“It was crazy, this is a quiet street,” one neighbour told theSun.

The shooting started just after 4:30 a.m. outside a ‘clandestine’ bar in an alley off Eighth Ave. and Lake Shore Blvd.

Nearly 80 shots were fired, police said — a tally backed up by residents.

“The street was littered with bullet casings,” said a resident. “All hell broke loose.”

Even a day later on Wednesday morning, bullet holes could be seen in cars parked along the tree-lined street.

The organizer of the event held at the booze-can told CP24 it was a gender-reveal party.

Police have yet to determine a motive or suspects for the shooting.

Meanwhile, nobody was hurt after shots rang out in Scarborough overnight.

Just after 5:10 a.m., police received reports of a drive-by shooting near Chester Le Blvd. and Pettibone Sq.

Police say callers reported suspects shooting out of a moving vehicle.

A white SUV was seen fleeing the area.

Police say a number of houses in the area were struck by gunfire, but nobody was injured.

The investigation continues.

Anybody with information should call police or Crime Stoppers.

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Toronto Police seize 7 guns, drugs, over $100Gs in 'Project Compound' sting

Toronto Police say the alleged ringleader of a group suspected in shootings in Thorncliffe Park since 2019 is only 19 years old.

The 11 men face a combined 95 charges after the Gun and Gang Task Force and Centralized Shooting Response Teams executed warrants in nine Toronto and three Cambridge addresses on Sept. 3 as part of “Project Compound,” an eight-month-long sting.

Investigators seized seven guns, drugs and over $100,000 in cash.

This will create safer communities, police said.

“It’s not just several individuals that are off the streets,” said Staff-Supt. Peter Code during a press conference Wednesday.

“We believe strongly (these people) are prolific in relation to criminal activity, that use firearms, that have access to firearms on a regular basis.”

Code said there have been 350 shootings in Toronto between Jan. 1 and Wednesday morning — including a scene in south Etobicoke early Tuesday after a gender reveal party in an alleged boozecan — a spike of 40 more in the same period last year.

Of those 350 shootings, 168 people across the city have been struck by bullets — slightly down from 170 the same time last year by only two.

“What those statistics do not speak to, is the trauma and fear, the mental and physical injury these shootings actually push to all of our community,” said Code.

“Not just the person that’s been hit, but people that were at at the event, members of their family, friends, members of their neighbourhood and entire communities.”

Besides firearms and cash, investigators seized a half-kilo of cocaine, 18 pounds of marijuana, MDMA and 65 grams of fentanyl.

Of the seven guns recovered, five are prohibited firearms, said Det.-Sgt. Richard Harris.

Police are still trying to determine their origin and how people got them into the country.

“It’s alleged that this group purposefully set out to commit violent acts against targeted individuals for the sole purpose of monetary gain and retribution,” said Det.-Sgt. Richard Harris. “The intended victims were targeted individuals.”

Salman Jogiyat, 19, of Toronto, faces the highest number of charges at 43, including two counts of attempted murder, five counts of instruct for the benefit of a criminal organization, four counts of participating in a criminal organization, as well as robbery, possession, trafficking, conspiracy to commit murder, firearm and break-and-enter offences.

“His age, yes, is of concern and it is alleged that he was in fact, the leader of this group,” said Harris.

Supt. Steve Watts, who leads the Organized Crime Enforcement Unit, said the Integrated Gang Prevention Task Force ran a series of town hall meetings last year and earlier in 2020 to try to find proactive solutions to gun violence, including a program for members to exit gangs.

“There’s much greater engagement, integrating community social agencies into the solution,” he said. “This not just a police problem. This is a societal phenomenon.”

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Toronto speed cameras nab more than 2,000 repeat offenders

Thousands of tickets handed out by Toronto’s new automated speed enforcement system were repeat offenders.

According to data released Tuesday by the city, 2,239 of the 22,301 tickets issued by the program were to repeat offenders, with one leadfoot receiving 12 individual citations from a camera installed on Crow Trail near Bradstone Square in Scarborough.

That total is nearly four times higher than the 591 repeat offenders busted in the program’s first two weeks.

Launched on July 6, the long-delayed photo radar system started handing out tickets to speeders via a network of 50 cameras installed in community safety zones.

The cameras will remain in place until October, when the city will consider moving them to different locations.

Speaking at one of those locations Tuesday morning near Keelesdale Junior Public School, Mayor John Tory said with Toronto kids heading back to school next week, road safety becomes a renewed concern.

“Speeding remains a major challenge to safety in the city of Toronto,” he said.

“Time and time again, it has been proven that speeding is a major factor in many of the collisions that result in injury or death.”

The numbers released Tuesday reinforce that point, he said.

As reported in late July, the highest speed recorded — 89 km/h, or 49 km/h over the posted speed limit — was captured by a camera on Renforth Dr. near Lafferty St., resulting in a $718 ticket.

That camera was also the busiest in the program’s first two weeks, issuing 890 tickets, or 12% of all tickets issued July 6-20.

Between July 6 and Aug. 5, that camera recorded 2,239 speed violations.

The cameras, Tory said, free up police officers from manning speed traps and allow them to take on other duties.

Toronto’s $25-million speed camera program is part of the city’s Vision Zero five-year traffic fatality reduction strategy.

In late July, a system glitch resulted in the issuing of hundreds of erroneous tickets to drivers who hadn’t broken the law, due to incorrectly set speed limits in three cameras.

That came almost a month after one of the 800-pound ground-mounted cameras was yanked out of the ground and stolen near Jameson Ave. and Queen St. W. in Parkdale.

Another unit was set on fire on July 26 in Scarborough, and in January one had its lens covered in spray paint shortly after it was installed near Steeles Ave. and Bathurst St. in North York.
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