WARMINGTON: Man, 37, gunned down while city in lockdown
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Bang, bang, bang, bang.
The sound of gunshots could be heard for blocks around. Then a short pause follow by another volley.
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WARMINGTON: Man, 37, gunned down while city in lockdown Back to video
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Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang.
Needless to say within two minutes the area of St. Clair Ave. W. and Winona Dr., which has been very quiet during this pandemic, turned into a major crime scene.
Police cars. Ambulances. Fire trucks.
“The shots were so loud,” said legendary retired Toronto Sun photographer Michael Peake who is voluntarily self-isolating nearby. “It was somewhere between eight and ten shots.”
From his window he suddenly came out of retirement for a minute, took out his camera and captured some social-distancing images without going outside. He didn’t see the crime take place or any suspects or vehicles fleeing the scene, but he was able to capture some video and photos of the response.
Having been to hundreds of crime scenes in an award-winning four decade career, Peake knew this was not going to turn out well.
It didn’t.
Late Thursday Toronto Police announced Lindsay John Templeton, 37, died from the gunshots — Toronto’s 21st homicide of 2020.
“Homicide investigators are appealing to any witnesses who were in the area at the time, or have security camera footage, dash cam video, or any information to contact police,” Const. Jenniferjit Sidhu said in a statement released Thursday.
Feel free to contact Crime Stoppers if you can help.
With photographer Stan Behal I went to the scene Thursday and found 40 evidence markers in a rear parking lot of a nearby building and homicide detectives and forensic officers on hand.
A large pool of blood was evident.
It’s a horrible crime at a time when very few people are outside their homes. But police have been concerned things could heat up as people grow weary of being locked down in their homes. This is perhaps reflective in the number of violent crimes Toronto has seen in the past 36 hours.
Const. Michelle Flannery did a rundown for me of some serious criminality.
“On Rexdale Blvd. at Kipling Ave., a man and a woman went to pick up a food order and while the man was waiting in his car another man in another car shot at him (but missed).”
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“On Close Ave. and Springhurst Ave., a group of people were at the intersection. Gunshots were heard and people dispersed. Police arrived to find shell casings and canvassed witnesses and video. There were no injuries.”
On Bolingbroke Rd. at Blosomfield Dr., “a woman was taken to hospital after being in a car that was shot at.” Her condition was unknown.
On Manor Haven Rd. and Rondale Blvd., “police were called after a man was seen to have shot a gun from a vehicle into the air, shell casing were found and no injuries were reported.”
That’s an awful lot of violence.
As police spokesperson Meaghan Gray reports while many crime indicators are down, the areas that are up include commercial break-ins, robberies and shootings.
This while most people are staying home at the request of the Mayor, Premier and Prime Minister. It seems the gun-toting criminals are not listening.
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