High School Goes Into Lockdown & Fear After Fatal Shooting
Posted May 23, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
What started out as a quiet day at a Toronto high school escalated into a tragedy and a lockdown, after a student was shot and killed inside C.W. Jefferys on Sentinel Road in the Keele-Finch area on Wednesday. Police initially received reports of a drowning at the school pool at 2:35pm, but when they arrived they found a teenager suffering from a single bullet wound to the chest. The boy, who was found in a hallway, was without vital signs when discovered.
A science teacher performed CPR, but the teen, who was rushed to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, later passed away. He’s been identified as 15-year-old Jordan Manners.
The school remained in lockdown mode for hours as heavily-armed agents combed classrooms. “We have secured the school,” noted Chief Bill Blair from the scene. “I have officers on every floor and in every room, and the Emergency Task Force is now in the school in order to insure the safety of all of the students. We are going through the school to insure that there is no danger presently in the school for those students before we release them.”
Students finally left on buses for nearby Elia Middle School down the road just before the dinner hour and then home to their anxious parents.
Reports indicate an argument at a nearby plaza may have led to the shooting, but authorities won’t confirm anything – including if they may know the name of a suspect or if there was more than one person involved.
Parents of students rushed to the campus and were shocked about what happened inside. Several tried to contact their kids on cell phones to assure their safety.
Two people, one identified as the victim’s mother, the other his sister, also came to the scene. The mother apparently collapsed in grief and tears when she heard the news and was taken away to accompany her son on an emergency run. She collapsed again at Sunnybrook when she learned the grim news that her son had died. Officers gently tried to pick her up and escort her in, as she was paralyzed by grief.
Toronto Mayor David Miller addressed councillors at City Hall with the sad news. He also re-confirmed his commitment towards building a safer city. “We need to redouble our efforts,” the grim-faced mayor said. “Part of that is to deal with the guns that are part of these tragedies. I never thought I would have a moment like this in Toronto when they mayor would had to rise and say that a student in a high school in our city has been shot.
“None of us want to have to look into eyes of another (parent) in this city and say, ‘you have lost your child.’
“Part of it is about supporting young people and bringing hope and opportuntiy and part of it is about supporting our law enforcement.”
Classes are cancelled for Thursday, but grief counsellors will be there for students who want to talk to them.
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Facebook site remembers victim
Sadly, this isn’t the first time a Canadian school has been confronted with this kind of violence. Here’s a look at some others:
May 23, 2007: Gunman shoots and kills 14-year-old student at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute in Toronto.
Sept. 13, 2006: Kimveer Gill, 25, opens fire at Dawson College in Montreal, killing one woman and injuring 20 people.
April 20, 2000: Four students and one staff member wounded in knife attack at Cairine Wilson High School in Orleans, Ont. Occurs on first anniversary of Columbine massacre.
April 28, 1999: 14-year-old boy shoots two students, one fatally, at W.R. Myers High School in Taber, Alta.
Feb. 8, 1999: Man fires shot at Woodland Elementary School in Verdun, Que. No one injured.
October 1997: 35-year-old man fatally shoots teacher at Montreal language school for immigrants.
October 1994: Two guidance counsellors at Brockton High School in Toronto shot and wounded by student unhappy with grades.
June 1993: Teen wounded outside Gladstone Secondary School in Vancouver in drive-by shooting.
Aug. 24, 1992: Valery Fabrikant, professor at Concordia University in Montreal, goes on shooting rampage at school, killing four colleagues and wounding one.
February 1990: Jilted teenager shoots and wounds estranged girlfriend at General Brock High School in Burlington, Ont.
December 1989: Marc Lepine, 25, shoots dead 14 women at University of Montreal’s Ecole polytechnique engineering school, then kills himself.
October 1978: 17-year-old student shoots 16-year-old to death at Sturgeon Creek Regional Secondary School in Winnipeg.
Oct. 27, 1975: Robert Poulin, an 18-year-old militia sharpshooter, shoots six people at Ottawa’s Saint Pius X school and then kills himself. One wounded student dies just over a month later. Poulin had killed a girl at a youth home before he went to the school.
May 1975: Michael Slobodian, 16, kills teacher and student and wounds 13 others at Centennial Secondary School in Brampton, Ont., before turning gun on himself.