A weekend of shootings in Toronto

This is cyclic. LEOs warned about this a while ago, but no one listens unless shit kicks off, then they want immediate solutions. All the people who went inside during the "summer of the gun" as it was called, are now getting out. That causes territorial disputes. There might be a power shift, too.

The two girls who were shot in the playground are apparently going to make full recoveries. So there's that.

I watched the video. I'm not in Toronto and I'm not American. What is it about gun ownership that leads one to target unarmed children? There's no Second Amendment in Canada. Is it a self-defense issue? Are those gun owners defending themselves against unarmed teens in the entertainment district?

Ha Amateur!

R2, it's gang related. Illegal guns and gang violence. It's so ridiculous. Frankly I think we may as well let them Darwin each other.

I do wonder, though, what Toronto's Black Live Matters has to say about all this.

How can we blame this on America?

r2 So the gang members have very bad aim, or are they not bothering to shoot at rival gangs?

"Oh hey, a teen in a stairwell. Do we know him?"

"Nah."

"Alright, let's fire."

"Oh hey, kids at a playground. Isn't that our territory at night?"

"Yeah, we better plug 'em during the day so their parents will get our message."

"Oh hey, audiences have just emerged from a downtown cinema at night. Let's shoot them at random. Who do they think they are, walking around the entertainment district, watching movies?"

Does anyone know a gang member? Is that how their reasoning goes?

[quote]Ha Amateur! —Baltimore

Well look who’s talking big!

r2 certain gangs here have a disproportionate level of violence compared to other organized crime groups. We can't be honest about this, and therefore it makes it harder to eradicate. This is especially true in allocating resources in the age of Big Data. You need to have numbers to get funds, but you can't get numbers because you can't collect data on specific groups because that's racist now.

In fairness, the TPS needs a damn good housecleaning to get all the Bromell-raised LAPD wannabes out of the force. That would go a long way for everybody, especially the Caribbean community who have to deal with this shit up close.

Meanwhile, young black men are lost to psychopathy and children are shot in playgrounds in broad daylight.

[quote][R2] certain gangs here have a disproportionate level of violence compared to other organized crime groups. We can't be honest about this, and therefore it makes it harder to eradicate.

Please explain.

Who's the OP stud?

[quote] LEOs

Low Earth Orbits? Light Emitting Orchestras?

Blacks being shot by other blacks. It's come to Toronto which used to be a very safe city. It's not an American thing anymore.

I thought canada is safe? 💩🖕🏿

But it's Canada! That's not the narrative we've been told!

R12 - Law Enforcement Officers

Although I usually think of that as American shorthand for police.

There are colored people in Canada? My stars !!!

Toronto Mayor John Tory appears to agree with r9 and r4, implying the gang members are repeat offenders and the TPS CMNS Dept releases a statement that it "wonders where the Mayor is getting his info."

[quote]Anti-gun violence advocate Louis March says changes in Toronto's gun culture are being overlooked. "The turf wars are no longer physical turf wars. They are to some extent. But the turf wars now are virtual turf wars."

[quote] "You can disrespect somebody through your social media outlets, and there's going to be a response. And what we've seen right now is how immediate it is."

How does a virtual social media war lead to children on playgrounds and unarmed tourist district visitors getting shot? They can't all have bad aim: Lecent Ross, 14, was shot in the face in someone's home, 46-year-old Donald Beckles was shot, I doubt they were instigators in online social media feuds. A 21-year-old woman used her shotgun in an unprovoked attack on a 21-year-old pedestrian and on a 69-year-old bicyclist, both people she didn't know. That can't be gang violence.

I'm struggling to understand people who attempt to solve interpersonal issues using guns on people they don't know. Their senseless acts of violence perpetuate but never are justified nor satisfactorily explained. A serving police officer in the UK, answering a related question "do gang members aim to hurt and kill civilians?" with:

[quote]No, in fact they will go out of their way to not involve the general public who are outside gang culture. There are a number of reasons for this. They don't want to draw attention to their criminal activities. Most gangs hate cops, they will avoid any sort of contact with them. They operate under codes of silence that means if a gang member is killed they will refuse to cooperate with the police, instead preferring to take matters into their own hands. Normal, law abiding people have no such code and if a member if their family became a victim then they would more than likely do everything they could to assist the police.

[quote] Law abiding citizens do not involve themselves in criminal activity and therefore do not impinge on an urban street gangs criminal activities (and therefore profits) as such they do not (for the reasons above) want any contact with people outside their gang.

Toronto gangs must be a special kind of pitbull-stupid.

R17 - We refer to them as 'coloUred people', just as we pronounce Z as ZED.

No longer "Toronto the Good."

First, Justin revealed to be a pussy grabber from way back, and now this?

Some good advice

Of course what nobody in the media here in Toronto is saying is that every one of these shootings has been Black on Black crime...even the two little kids in the playground.

As for the response from our local Black Lives Matter...crickets, radio silence, nada.

Blacks in the ghetto valorize gangs and guns. but not education and hard work.

r20 Toronto has always been a major hub for Jamaican gangs. Back in the day, this was well-known by senior LEOs (law enforcement officials (officers) ) from information on the streets, and intelligence sharing from the DEA & other American agencies.

One of the original and most violent groups to come to North America was the Shower Posse. They had a power base here because we had a large emigre community, particularly female domestics, in the 50s-70s. Their violence, however, was mostly in the US-- NYC and Miami specifically. While that was good for us in the short term, long term it meant the public wasn't aware of them.

They were led by old school gangsters who would never, ever shoot around children or into a crowd on New Years, etc. In return politicians and LEOs here turned a blind eye. (Their one time leader, who was publicly wanted by the US government was allowed to visit his sister here several times. Instead of intercepting him, they just let him be. Senior Canadian officials also allegedly knew he was here.)

For a long time, they had no competition, but when they did the violence did come here, but only amongst themselves. The old order held (not that I'm condoning it, of course) until the late 90s. A couple of high profile cases opened the floodgates for public shootings. By now, the gangs were too entrenched to eradicate, and the police were turning toward the LAPD model of hiring steroid using racists who liked to keep "them" in their place. That led to police brutality cases, and a tendency to over-correct, i.e erase the black gang history in TO.

Because of the racist LEOs, the agencies were not allowed to include race in their crime statistics. This meant there was no complete picture of what areas were problems, so it meant no funding. This is really true now, with Big Data being used for funding decisions, especially hiring numbers. With BLM and the SJWs on social media, it means an honest discussion of issues *before* a violent wave is shut down. The media are elitist access lackeys, and very few are reporting fairly re: what's really happening on the ground.

As it stands now, a number of black gangs are vying for territory, but it's also about respect. One way to boost your street cred, and status amongst gangsters, is to stunt on social media about local crimes you've done, so everyone in that world (and the wider youth culture/community) can see what a bad ass you are. It's to the point where if you *don't* respond to dis tracks, you'll be targeted as weak. These are mainly kids who are in poor, isolated housing projects--and they are kids. The ages I've seen are 12-17. By 17 they are hardened vets.

It's sad really. I went down the rabbit hole on this a few years ago, when I happened to be on twitter when a notorious gang leader's family was involved in a shooting incident. I was in before they-and eventually LEOs,-locked down everyone's social media.

Like everything else, no one cares unless there's drama, then everyone wants in. Politicians and even the communities don't seem to want to do the hard, tedious grassroots discussion/solutions.

[quote]Toronto has always been a major hub for Jamaican gangs

Not when it was "Toronto the Good."

Thought the US was only ones with this problem is gun ownership a big problem in Canada now?

[quote] As for the response from our local Black Lives Matter...crickets, radio silence, nada.

They are too busy bullying the gay pride organizers.

No just with some criminals in the bigger cities, R27.

"Toronto the Good" originates from the city's Victorian propensity for moral stiffness. The term was coined by former mayor William Howland (1886-87,) who, in the words of the Toronto Star, was "an anti-vice, anti-gambling, anti-liquor, Bible-thump[er]."

Shouldn't the OP have been:

Only 10 people shot in Toronto on the weekend.

Jealous, American bitches?

I doubt this is the start of a trend. We had a summer much like this one back in 2005. In fact the media dubbed it 'the summer of the gun' as I think we had something like 20 more murders that year than usual.

That was 14 years ago-this is the first sign of something similar happening this year so it most likely an anomaly and not the new normal.

What is new this year is the brazen nature of these shootings-a playground in the middle of the day, the entertainment district at 7PM -instead of the usual shootings at 2AM-and last night's shenanigans in Kensington Market at 10:30 PM.

r26 yup. It was still called that when this started, although as r30 said the original focus was a bit different.

As a Torontonian, this is frustrating and embarrassing.

When "this started" was the beginning of the end of Toronto the Good, R33.

r34 If you're looking for full embarrassment, wait til Doug Ford weighs in. I'm cringing just thinking of it.

He made a vague "restore law & order" statement supporting Mayor Tory, but nothing detailed.

They are violent animals who destroy every neighborhood that is cursed with their presence.

No DL tribute thread for Smoke Dawg? Come on, XXXTentacion got one!

[quote]Shouldn't the OP have been: Only 10 people shot in Toronto on the weekend.

[quote]Jealous, American bitches?

Jealous? Of 10? Bitch, please.

Um, r39?