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Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :

Around 5pm, I took a bus to a plaza where I was to meet my girlfriend and her sister. Unbeknownst to the three of us, around the same time when I arrived at the plaza, a gunfight erupted at another area of the plaza, and a 13 year old boy was shot in the head. The injuries are life threatening, the bullet entered through the kid's right temple and out of his forehead between his eyes. This happened in the Jane-Finch area of Toronto. It is not known yet whether or not the kid was involved in the gunfight, or was an innocent bystander.

The Jane-Finch District has been known for it's crime rate. But because of a new policing program in place in that area, as well as a new shopping mall, the rate of crime has dropped quite a bit.

So why did I choose that Destination? It was directly between a subway station where I came from and a restaurant that we planned to eat at. I figured that it was going to be a minor stop with nothing to worry about. Guess again. Had the gunfight took place in the northeast area of the lot, either myself, my girlfriend, or her sister could have been hit.

There was another possible place we could have met at, but it was farther away. I'll have to be smarter next time.

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"My Name is Elmer Fudd, Millionaire. I own a Mansion and a Yacht."
Psychiatrist: "Again."

[This message has been edited by Tahna Los (edited April 22, 2000).]

Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

Canada is such a wonderful country, being gun-free and all.

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Frank's Home Page
"I was walking out of a movie, and some people recognized me from They Might Be Giants. They said 'Are you John?' and I said '...Yeah.' and then they said 'We're glad to see you getting out.'" - John Linnell

Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :

Well, how many gunfights do you hear about taking place in Canada?

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"Keep on Trekking"
-D. Kelly

[This message has been edited by Fabrux (edited April 22, 2000).]

Posted by BlueElectron (Member # 281) on :

Not that many, thank God.

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Okey, okey, here's my question:

If you are an immortal, do you "rot" simply because of the
nuclear decay of the Carbon-14 particles inside your body?

Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :

Admittedly, Toronto is becoming the only city in Canada with American-style Crime.

News reports all around Toronto say that Jane-Finch used to have a lot of crime down there (but not as much as the typical American City). As I said before, it's gone down recently. This is the only major shooting in the area for quite a while now.

The other hotspot is Regent Park, closer to the downtown area. That area is also subject to a community policing program, and crime down there is also decreasing.

That's only one thing. While the overall crime rate is down, the magnitudes of crimes committed is going up. Six months ago, there was another gunfight just west of Jane-Finch. An innocent bystander was hit three times while trying to protect two girls. Luckily, he survived.

Admittedly yes, these kind of incidents are increasing in number, in contrast to the overall crime rate. So what do you suggest, Frank? Get more guns? Arm every civilian with a gun in the hopes that the crime rate will go down?

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"My Name is Elmer Fudd, Millionaire. I own a Mansion and a Yacht."
Psychiatrist: "Again."

[This message has been edited by Tahna Los (edited April 23, 2000).]

Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

No, but make the criminals think that's what's happening.

Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :

Just out of curiosity, what do you mean Tahna by "I'll have to be smarter next time"? That was the first gun incident in the shopping mall right? Being smart has nothing to do with whether you should have avoided it. You just didn't know.

And avoiding it now is a little bit like locking the barn door after the horses have bolted. They'll have tightened up security. If anything, the place will be more safe now, surely?

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*Amusing quote not available, please call back later*

Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :

Excellent advice. I'd be a lot less enthusiastic about target shooting if the targets shot back.

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"A plain, good-hearted woman who loves you is infinitely more beautiful than any "gorgeous" woman who values your possessioins more than you."
-- Me
http://www.geocities.com/cyrano_jones.geo/

Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :

I've been listening to the Radio and here is what they said.......

It appears that the shooting took place not at the plaza I mentioned, but it happened in or around Driftwood Avenue, close to the Jane-Finch Intersection. Driftwood is very close to and runs parallel to Jane Street. I was on a bus travelling on Driftwood at the time. At Finch, between Jane and Driftwood is a plaza and that was where the victim was found. Apparently, he stumbled across Driftwood Avenue for help and collapsed in a pool of blood. The plaza is quite huge, so the three of us were not aware that any shooting had happened, nor of a victim stumbling across the street.

As for PsyLiam's questions, this was the first major shooting in the area for quite a while now IIRC. As for the plaza, there was a previous shooting in that plaza, but that was quite long ago (don't know how long......).

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"My Name is Elmer Fudd, Millionaire. I own a Mansion and a Yacht."
Psychiatrist: "Again."

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

Has there been any further mention of that Canadian kid who was knifing people on the anniversary of Columbine? I heard a snippet of that on the radio news, but I was being followed by a cop car at the time and was paying more attention to my speedometer.

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"Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi

Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :

Yep. Definitely true. And the police say that it was deliberately set that way. Fortunately, he didn't have an AK-47 to do this.

Update on the situation: It looks like there was a murder the day after the shooting just down Driftwood, south of Finch. I also found out about 2 weeks ago, also at Driftwood and Finch, 25 bullets were fired in a shootout. Fortunately, only a woman suffered an injury to her leg.

This is most unusual and disturbing, since that area has been peaceful for quite some time until these firefights broke out. It looks like that all three shootings are related to each other.

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"My Name is Elmer Fudd, Millionaire. I own a Mansion and a Yacht."
Psychiatrist: "Again."