Holiday Weekend Marred By Multiple Shootings
Posted December 24, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Police are probing three separate shootings that killed one man and injured six others.
Officers were called out to the King and Dufferin area around 1am Sunday and cordoned off a section of road after gunfire erupted in the west end neighbourhood.
Two men were shot, police said, and one of the victims, a 23-year-old male, was taken to St. Michael’s Hospital where he later died from his wounds. He’s since been identified as Jesse Batisse.
A second victim was taken to a different hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
Police are still trying to track down the shooter, but believe there was some history leading up to the incident.
“This was not random,” said Homicide Squad Det. Wayne Fowler.
“I believe that the people responsible know each other and I believe the shooter knows the intended target.”
If you saw anything or have any information that could help investigators, call the Homicide Squad at (416) 808-7400.
Then, just over an hour later shots rang out again, this time in the Entertainment District.
The shooting happened in a parking lot on Pearl Street around 2:20am and a man and a woman (pictured) suffered gun shot wounds to the leg. The male victim has since been released from hospital and the female victim is still undergoing treatment , but is expected to recover.
Unlike the previous incident, police believe this one may have been a random shooting.
Detectives are now poring over security video hoping to come across some clues that could lead to an arrest.
Elsewhere, two teenagers are recovering in hospital after they were hit in a shooting in the Morningside and Ellesmere area around 8pm Saturday.
Both victims are 19 and were shot at an apartment building on Mornelle Court. Police found one victim in a stairwell and the second in a hallway.
And earlier Saturday, a 47-year-old man suffered non-life-threatening injuries when he was shot in the arm after several armed suspects opened fire on one another in the north end.
The string of violence comes just two days prior to the one-year anniversary of the shocking Boxing Day shootout that claimed the life of teenage by-stander Jane Creba.
Security cameras were installed last week in and around the area of Yonge Street where the shooting took place last December, and police are now hoping their new eyes will deter further incidents.
“I think that having the cameras in any area of the city that may or may not at any point experience some type of problem would be beneficial to the police and the community,” said Homicide Det. Wayne Banks.
If you have any information on these shootings, call Crime Stoppers at (416) 222-TIPS.
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