Sword-wielding man arrested near Pharmacy Ave and Sheppard Ave in Scarborough

Live by the sword.

Get arrested if you are alleged to be waving one around in a parking lot, too.

This was the scene at 11 p.m. Friday night in the parking lot of Pharmacy and Sheppard Aves. It was a man with a samurai sword.

It looked like a scary scene from Kill Bill. So much so, police were called.

They responded carefully.


“A person who knew the man called police out of concern,” said Toronto Police spokesman Gary Long.

Police arrived and arrested the man without incident and took him into 42 Division. He was scheduled to appear in court at Old City Hall Saturday on unknown charges.

PERSON WITH A KNIFE:
Pharmacy Av + Sheppard Av
-In parking lot
-Man armed with samurai sword
-Sword in his hands#GO1754235
^dh

— Toronto Police OPS (@TPSOperations) September 22, 2018

But thankfully, no one was hurt, said Long.

This time.

The blade call was one of three like it in a 24-hour period, though. A machete attack Thursday resulted in Toronto’s 79th homicide in 2018. The original call was categorized as a fight but when the dust settled, Nader Fadael had been struck with a machete and succumbed to his injuries.

Based on media reports, it’s believed there has been about a dozen people stabbed to death among the city’s 79 homicides of 2018, but Long couldn’t confirm that number. The updated statistics will come Tuesday. That said, clearly while murder by gun garners the headlines, murder by knife is just as deadly.

Knife robberies are a problem, as well. Around the same time as the sword call came in, police responded to a man armed with a knife threatening employees in Scarborough.

He took off and no one was hurt.

PERSON WITH A KNIFE:
McNicoll Ave + Kennedy Rd
-2 men in store
-1 armed with knife
-Threatening employees
-Police en route#GO1754214
^dh

— Toronto Police OPS (@TPSOperations) September 22, 2018

But when you are seeing 911 calls related to machetes, swords and knives, in 2018, where there are double the amount of homicides over this time last year, there needs to be a conversation about it. Not a knife ban, but perhaps severe mandatory minimum sentences for any violence committed with a deadly weapon on a person would be something productive to be put on the agenda again.

Judges have shot down these kinds of deterrent approaches before. But when the blood is spilling, a city can’t turn a blind eye.

The reality is people can die by the sword.

And by a knife, scissors, or other sharp objects, too.

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