First-degree murder charges laid in Keswick double shooting

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Two Barrie men have been charged in connection with a double shooting — turned double homicide — that occurred in a Keswick park Wednesday morning.

York Regional Police on Wednesday originally called the shooting in Bayview Park – located at Lowndes Ave. And Bayview Ave. area – as and isolated incident and remained tight-lipped about any details surrounded multiple shots heard in the park.

In an update Thursday morning, police said the homicide unit identified and charged John McKay, 19 and Ethan Pashak-McNeil, 21, with first-degree murder.

The victims who were gunned down just before 7:30 a.m. in Bayview Park have also been now identified as Reilly MacDonald, 21, of Keswick, and 39-year0old Mark Sutcliffe.

Police said they are unsure at this time if the two parties knew each other.

On Wednesday, neighbours were on edge about the early morning shooting as they were about to head to work or bring their children to local schools.

Christopher Finley said that his Dodge 1500 pickup truck, parked in his driveway, was hit by a stray bullet fired from the park.

Finley’s truck was parked several hundred metres north of the park where the shooting took place.

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A woman walking out of the park with her dog at the time of the shooting was in “hysterics,” according to Finley, as she was on the phone speaking to police about what she saw.

Finley grabbed the woman and put her between both the vehicles on his driveway to shield her from potentially additional gunfire erupting from the park.

Other neighbours like Tiina Rieger and Kim Therrien said when they heard the gunfire they thought it might have been duck hunters out in the nearby wetlands of Cook’s Bay to the west.

“It’s literally too close to home,” Rieger said, adding she was worried for her own kid’s safety.

Police are asking anyone who was in the area at the time or lives in the neighbourhood to check their security cameras and dashcam footage and come forward with any information.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the homicide unit at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7865, by email at homicide@yrp.ca, or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).