'AM I GOING TO DIE?': Playground shooting victim says to mom

Article content

The mother of two girls shot during brazen daylight gun fire at a crowded playground in Scarborough says she fainted when hearing the news her children were wounded.

Her five-year-old was shot in the abdomen and her nine year-old was shot in the leg. Both girls have had several surgeries and are still traumatized and suffering nightmares.

Recommended Videos

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

'AM I GOING TO DIE?': Playground shooting victim says to mom Back to video

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

The mother remembers the moment when she answered a knock at the door on June 14 to be told by a neighbour her daughters had been shot in a playground on Alton Towers Circle, near McCowan Rd.

“I saw it on her face. I dropped and passed out myself because it’s shocking when you see something like that,” the mother, who didn’t want to be identified, told CTV News.

The mother said she also remembers seeing her screaming children before getting in the ambulance with her five-year-old to go to the way to the Hospital for Sick Children.

Her youngest kept asking if she would die.

“That’s all she kept saying to me,” she said. “And I said ‘No, you’re not going to die.'”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

She recalls later one of the girls saying how she wished she could have been fast enough to get away from the bullets.

Police began the look for three suspects who targeted a man who was at the park with his child. When the shots started the targeted man fled the scene leaving his child.

Shortly after the shooting, police arrested Sheldon Eirya, 21, of Markham, who was allegedly driving the van the three suspects used during the shooting.

Police are still looking for Tarrick Rhoden and T’Quan Robertson, both 23 and Toronto residents.

All three suspects are facing attempted murder charges.

Police are still trying to identify the suspect.

“He is a no-good scum. He is a loser,” the mother said of the shooting target.

“It has nothing to do with my family. It has nothing to do with me. They were targeting a fool that was in the park … He should smarten up and change his life and dedicate his life to God, really, and truthfully. Because he put my kids at risk.”

Shes said her daughters live in fear and won’t leave her side.

“It’s changed everybody’s life. It was scary. I don’t know what would happen if I was to lose my daughter. I wouldn’t be able to take it,” she said.

The five-year-old can’t understand what has happened.

“Why did you hurt me?” the child told CTV.

She still has bandages from the gunshot wound.

Children no longer play in the park where the shooting took place.

kconnor@postmedia.com

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video