Danzig Street shooting
in Toronto, CanadaCategory: Attraction
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103 Danzig St, Scarborough, ON M1E 2L5, Canada Print route »
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The Danzig Street shooting or Danzig shooting was a Canadian gang-related shooting. It occurred on the evening of 16 July 2012 at a block party on Danzig Street in the West Hill neighbourhood of Toronto. Rival gang members Folorunso Owusu, 17, and Nahom Tsegazab, 19, along with an unidentified third gunman, opened fire in a crowd of two hundred people. This resulted in the deaths of Joshua Yasay and Shyanne Charles, and the injury of twenty-four others (including two of the perpetrators), making it the worst mass shooting in Toronto.A 2008 provincial report had warned of increasing trends in youth violence but key recommendations to help keep at-risk youth from joining gangs had not been adopted. Around 2010 the West Hill-based Galloway Boys gang was reforming, recruiting youth who obtained guns used in conflicts for territory and leadership. Some of these youths held a party with free alcohol following a childrens' barbecue at a social housing complex. After a series of confrontations, threats escalated into the shooting.
Although initially believed to be the resumption of a 2003 gang war between the Galloway Boys and the Malvern Crew, it later became clear that the Danzig Street shooting was not part of a territorial dispute or retaliation for another incident but a disagreement between teenagers who decided to have a gunfight in the middle of a party. Police initially received few tips from frightened witnesses but were able to make two arrests that month; two additional arrests came following a reprisal shooting in September. The four young men convicted were aged 15 to 19 at the time of the shooting; two were minors and their names were withheld under the Youth Criminal Justice Act until they were sentenced as adults. Justice Ian Nordheimer said of the incident, "Ordinary persons do not understand how anyone, much less teenagers, can come not only to possess such weapons, but to use them in such a brutal and indifferent way."The incident made headlines around the world and, in conjunction with the Eaton Centre shooting six weeks earlier and a shooting in a Colorado movie theatre four days later, renewed debate on gun crime in urban areas. Despite falling national crime rates a poll taken the following week showed that a majority of Canadians were in fear of "a violent crime wave". The shooting led the Toronto Police Service to develop new crime-prevention strategies for the Neighbourhood Officers program, established to build community relationships in at-risk areas to gain information on local crime, making possible targeted crackdowns on gang activity and a dramatic reduction in shootings and other crimes. Police 43 Division (which includes Danzig Street) reported no homicides in 2013.
