HUNTER: Oshawa double murder leaves us bitterly appalled

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“APPALLED- Have strong feelings of shock or disapproval.”— Cambridge Dictionary

In this most bloody of summers, is there a better word to describe our plummeting threshold for disgust?

We have seen 14-year-old triggermen, families massacred, and daily, low-rent shootings and crimes by the beneficiaries of our enlightened, revolving-door justice system.

No one in Ottawa seems terribly bothered, but back in Toronto, this year’s murder rate has soared a staggering 27.8% over the same period in 2023. Death by shooting? Well, that’s up 116.7%.

The dead are not just gangbangers fighting over drugs, turf, women or God only knows what else. It is the innocent.

Scouring through countless social media accounts, I could not find a bad word about Patrick Montgomery or his estranged wife, Andrieana Montgomery.

On Saturday, around 12:30 p.m., the quiet of Glenforest St. in Oshawa was shattered by two separate eruptions of gunfire.

By sunset, Patrick and Andrieana, both 42, were dead. Cops say they found the former Oshawa Generals star suffering from gunshot wounds at a home on the street. Then, they went to a second home on the street, where they discovered Andrieana dead at the scene.

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Cops arrested 30-year-old Mark Gordon a short time later.

Investigators were quick to underscore that the double murder was not a case of domestic violence. They are not saying much else.

One neighbour told Global News that he had heard two men arguing on the corner before the gunfire erupted about 10 to 20 minutes later. The witness told the network he saw a killer shoot Patrick Montgomery seven or eight times.

And then he heard seven more gunshots down the street and called cops.

For his part, Gordon appears to be a blank. He lived in a basement apartment with his girlfriend and child beneath Andrieana Montgomery.

He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. None of the allegations have been tested in court.

Both the Montgomerys were teachers. She was a beloved art teacher at Bowmanville High School and former students took to social media to call her “unforgettable” and a slew of superlatives.

Someone who made a profound difference in her students’ lives.

Former OHL star Patrick worked for Durham Catholic District School Board. Former students remembered that he would sometimes show them his hockey fights — including ones where he came up on the short end.

One wrote on Reddit: “My friends and I had Pat as a teacher in Grade 12. Shared a lot of laughs with him and he made for a fun experience in class. A teacher that we still talk about to this day.

“We always used to razz him a little when he tried to show us his fights from his days in the OHL because the only ones he could find were of him getting beat a little. It was all in good nature and he laughed it off.”

Friend Mike Modeste has established a GoFundMe page for the couple’s two boys, Connor, 12, and Owen, 10.

“To say that this is a nightmare is an understatement,” Modeste wrote on the page.

“Pat was an active and loving man who could light up a room. He took great joy in being a father, playing sports with his sons, coaching them, and building them a backyard ice rink. Andrieana was an incredibly talented artist and brought the arts to life with her boys. They lived passionate lives and lived each day to the fullest.”

Gordon remains in custody and is back in court in Oshawa on July 22.

As for the rest of us? We are appalled.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun