A shocking mass shooting inside a Toronto pub in March, when three masked men shot wildly into the crowd during the establishment’s grand opening, is linked to an ongoing tow truck turf war that included other shootings and a robbery, Toronto police said when announcing charges against 11 people.
Ten suspects have been arrested, and another is considered a wanted fugitive, after a fervid spree of gun violence by what investigators believe might be a shoot-em-up band for hire.
“The indiscriminate nature of this gun violence is hard to comprehend,” Toronto’s Chief of Police Myron Demkiw said Wednesday. “This kind of brazen violence, this disregard for human life, is completely unacceptable.”
An intense investigation of the March 7 shooting at the Piper Arms pub near Scarborough Town Centre, one of Canada’s largest shopping malls, led police to four other shootings and a robbery they say are linked to a violent turf war over tow trucking business that has been hitting the Greater Toronto Area with shootings and arsons for several years.
The pub shooting, however, which saw an organized assault on a mainstream establishment in a popular public area by three masked men — one armed with an assault-style rifle and two with handguns — took public concern and fury to a new level.
“That night, three suspects entered the pub and opened fire inside. Nine people were shot, and other people were injured as a result. No one was killed, which is truly a miracle, but the effects of this mass shooting remain devastating for the victims and for the sense of safety in our communities,” said Demkiw.
Supt. Paul MacIntyre, commander of Toronto police’s Organized Crime Enforcement unit, said pain and damage from the attacks continues.
“This was a terrifying series of events for the victims and for our city — a group of individuals opening fire in public spaces, seemingly without hesitation,” he said.
“We’ve stayed in contact with the victims and their families throughout. Many continue to recover from serious physical and emotional trauma. Some were shot multiple times. One person was shot six times and survived. The strength and resilience has been remarkable.”
Police said their probe into the pub attack led them to a series of attacks and other crimes with common links.
Investigators from several Toronto police units used old-school investigative techniques of speaking to people, chasing leads, knocking on doors, and cooperating with neighbouring police forces that have experienced their own tow-truck war violence, Demkiw said.
MacIntyre said it became a complex and resource-intensive investigation.
Police allege investigators linked the gunmen in the pub attack to other crimes both before and after the mass shooting.
On March 1, two suspects travelled in a stolen car to a Toronto plaza at Markham Road and Eglinton Avenue East. One suspect got out and shot at a victim standing nearby, who was injured. The pair then fled.
On March 4, three different suspects drove a stolen car to a towing yard near Weston Road and St. Clair Avenue West, police said. A gunman got out and shot and injured someone who was walking away from the yard. They drove to the towing yard and shot a second person who was in the towing yard in a drive-by attack. They then turned the car around and made a second pass, firing another salvo from the car windows.
Later that same night, police said the same three suspects, still in the stolen car, drove to a gas station near Lawrence Avenue East and Warden Avenue. One suspect got out and ambushed a man who was washing a pickup truck in one of the car wash bays. The victim ran off and was being chased by the gunman when he was intercepted by a second gunman who jumped from the car and also started shooting him. The victim was injured but survived.
On March 6, the two suspects accused of the plaza shooting five days earlier, arrived at a towing yard near the West Mall and The Queensway in a stolen car and shot at a vehicle leaving the yard. No injuries were reported.
It was the next night, police say, that one of the suspects from the pair of March 4 shootings was joined by two other men in a stolen car that arrived at the Piper Arms pub on Progress Avenue at Corporate Drive.
They parked and all three got out. One carried what looks like an assault-style rifle and the others had pistols.
Inside, patrons milled about. CCTV video footage from inside the pub shows four men standing near the doorway greeting each other when suddenly they dive in different directions when the door bursts open and shots blast inside.
Three men, with hoodies pulled up over their heads then move into the pub. The first one in carries a rifle with the distinctive long ammunition magazine curved like a banana; he turns to his left firing repeatedly as patrons at tables dive for cover.
The second gunman crouches as he moves inside, holding a handgun extended out sideways; he turns to his right, firing into a second room and then moves out of view of the camera into the side room.
The third gunman hangs back, barely past the door frame, and soon scurries out the door as the others briefly look around and then fire another volley.
The rifleman then jogs out the door. A few seconds later the second gunman emerges from the side room and follows the others outside.
Twelve people were injured, police said.
The reasons behind the pub shooting remain unknown, police said.
While the other shootings were connected to the tow truck industry, with victims being tow truck employees or targets being tow truck businesses, that doesn’t apply to the pub as far as police know, MacIntyre said.
The link to the turf war comes through the alleged gunmen.
“The shooting at the pub, we haven’t linked it to any tow truck violence at this point,” he said. “Where it is connected is the group of people that we identified as being part of the tow truck shootings have also done the pub shooting. Whether that was a one off, the reasons that they did it, we’re still investigating that,” MacIntyre said.
“We’re still looking at reasons why they did that and that’s still a very active investigation.”
Police are investigating whether the shooters were a band of hired guns, whose clients usually wanted them to target tow truck businesses and once targeted the pub.
The shooters were brazen, but not marksmen or skilled hitmen. The gunmen, MacIntyre said, were not a street gang in the usual sense.
“They’re not a gang, they’re not the definition of a gang, they’re just a collective of a bunch of guys that got together and are doing these shootings.”
Police connected two more incidents after the pub shooting to those arrested.
On April 11, four suspects in a stolen car attempted to rob a financial institution but failed, police said. Police later stopped the vehicle they fled in near Rexdale Boulevard and Highway 427 and two were arrested after a foot chase. Police found a loaded handgun with an extended magazine was recovered.
Finally, on May 26, police spotted a stolen vehicle and arrested two people inside and seized a loaded handgun, police said.
Of the 11 suspects charged, one remains a fugitive: Daykwon Joseph, 20, of Toronto. He is accused in the March 4 incidents — the double shooting at the tow yard and car wash ambush — and facing charges of attempt murder, six gun charges and other counts.
The three men accused in the pub shooting are Sheldon Gordon, 19, Juevar Griffith, 19, and Kayjean Morrison, 22, all from Toronto.
The others arrested range in age from 15 to 22 years old.
Demkiw said the shootings show the need for changes to Canada’s criminal code.
“These events underscore the importance of the law reform we’ve asked for in the past, including law reform concerning shootings in public spaces. Gunfire in our public spaces must be recognized for the harm it causes not just for those involved directly, but for the bystanders and the public at large,” he said.
• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | Twitter: AD_Humphreys
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