HUNTER: Soaring murder rate ravaging small-town Sarnia

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Someone wanted Andrew Chute dead and while he may not have known it, the Sarnia boilermaker’s days were numbered.

The 45-year-old was found shot to death in the early morning hours of April 14 in a conservation area between his hometown and London.

Cops have said little about the investigation, including motive.

What is known is that Chute joins a growing roster of people who died violently in Sarnia and the surrounding area over the past two years.

According to our sister paper, The Sarnia Observer, Chute is the 14th homicide investigation in Sarnia-Lambton since March 2020 when the COVID pandemic kicked off.

So far, cops have filed 20 first- or second-degree murder charges during that time period.

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With a population of just 72,000, the murder rate in the sleepy town at the bottom of Lake Huron converts to about 280 murders per year in Toronto.

“I was told there was a stretch in the ‘80s it was a similar number,” Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley, told the Observer, “but it is rare and it has been rare in the last 20 years to see this many.”

What’s driving a murder rate that seems unfathomable for such a small community?

For starters, one former member of the city’s criminal milieu told The Toronto Sun that the city is awash in drugs, with a small army of methheads always looking to score.

“There’s a lot of retired people, the trades, and not a whole lot else,” the source said, asking not to be identified. “There’s not a lot of alternatives for teens and other young people.”

Idle hands and all that.

The source said drug-driven home invasions are now a fact of life.

During three days in January 2021, two people were murdered in their homes. Sue Elin Lumsden, 66, was found dead in her home, as was arena Zamboni driver Allen Schairer, 62.

Joshua William Tomlinson, 35, of Sarnia, is charged with first- and second-degree murder. Noah Elijah Brown, 28, is also charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of Schairer.

“Most of it is looking for money to score drugs or drug debts … and domestic murders,” the source said, adding that COVID lockdowns have put women in peril.

“They couldn’t get the help they needed because everything was virtual. There’s no safety or privacy with Zoom so they can’t get away from their abuser. All the services that are there to help them are disrupted.”

But mostly, it’s been drugs that have driven this sordid slice of Canadiana.

“There’s a lot of people used up from drugs,” the Sarnia source told The Sun. “They need money for more drugs and methheads are crazy. I have a lot of friends who have overdosed, are in jail, or have been murdered. Overdoses in the Sarnia area have doubled.

“And all these people know each other.”

People like Andrew Chute who will never see birthday number 46. In his obituary and Observer articles, friends and family recalled the father-of-one’s love of sports and “infectious laugh.”

A laugh that is now silent.

South of downtown Sarnia, lies the notorious Chemical Valley, so named for obvious reasons. The city was once the most polluted in the country but over the past decade that has been cleaned up, although most of the pollution still comes from the U.S.

Cleaning the environment was easy. Cleansing the city’s social problems may be a lot tougher.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun