This past weekend was a chaotic one for the Greater Toronto Area which included a mass shooting of 5 soccer players, one in which was fatally injured. A weekend led by gun smoke and empty shell casings. Another man, 20-some year old was shot just the day before towards 10pm, along with another separate case involving a 14-year-old teenager shot in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday near Martin Grove and Rich Grove.
A soccer team had just finished playing ball, and were in the midst of a domino game in the parking lot of North Albion Collegiate Institute, located on 2580 Kipling Avenue in the Rexdale neighborhood of Etobicoke. It was at this point, that a black truck pulled up to the parking lot, and fired an onslaught of bullets, nearly 50 shell casings had managed to hit the ground once the whole kerfuffle was over. The shooting took place on Mount Olive Drive.
Police were called to the scene of the crime just a little before 11pm on Sunday, receiving a call at 10:53pm. It took only 3 minutes for authorities to arrive on the scene. Witnesses stated to the officers having seen 2 suspects shot multiple shots from a black truck and speeding away shortly after. At the scene they found 5 gunshot victims, 1 of which was critically injured, all aged between the 40 and 60 years old.
The sole, critically injured man was of the age of 61-years-old, named Delroy George Parks and had died of his injuries later on in the evening. Of the four other men that were wounded, only one has a ‘life-altering’ injury. Every witness and people related to the shooting victims have been openly helpful towards authorities. This incident is far from crime-related but rather a random incident.
With around 50 bullets being fired, and 5 victims being hit, it is hard to say what the motive of the suspects were. Was is an incident related to mental health? With 2 suspects, it is hard to say. Was it a random incident related to racism, maybe. Either way, it is unacceptable.
One person being severely hit collaterally is a woman by the name of Sophia Dunn. Her son-in-law and even her cousin as well as her uncle where three out of the five suspects struck with gunshots on Sunday night. She spent her day Monday, laying flowers on the scene of the crime and mourning the incident. She stated that the victims were non-violent and just innocently came to the soccer field to play soccer.
She stated the group of men were far from troublemakers, and were socializing and playing dominos at the time of the shooting. Dunn’s son-in-law was struck, a man by the name of Seymour Gibbs who was struck at least 3 times in the legs, the 50-year-old man remains in the hospital.
