East-end Toronto neighbourhood comes together after deadly shooting
Posted May 23, 2015 9:59 pm.
Last Updated May 23, 2015 10:56 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Days after a deadly shooting, an east-end neighborhood is coming together to try and make a positive change in the community.
Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf, 21, was shot dead outside a shisha cafe at Danforth and Coxwell on Tuesday.
Shell casings littered the street and the bullet holes tell a story of another deadly night in the neighbourhood.
“Who else has to die here before something is done?,” Vito Greco, owner of Gerrard Spaghetti and Pizza asks. “Enough is enough.”
Greco’s restaurant had its front window smashed during the incident.
“We’re done. We want our community back,” Greco said.
“It seems like a tipping point,” Sheri Hebdon, Chair of the Danforth East Community Association, said. “The community seems to have had enough.”
An employee at the nearby Rotana Cafe told CityNews that Yusuf collapsed right outside the door.
Three generations of Greco’s family work at Gerrard’s. They’ve been tossing up pizza pies and pasta at this location since 1976 but this isn’t the only tragedy they’ve witnessed in recent years.
The hookah lounge two units down was also the scene of a vicious stabbing that left Dominic Parker, an off-duty firefighter, dead in 2013.
“We realize that this doesn’t feel random anymore. They might not be connected but they feel connected,” Hebdon said.
Community members lined up to show their support on Saturday for a beer and pizza promotion outside of Greco’s restaurant but for those showing their support, it’s much more than helping replace a piece of glass.
Greco says the new window will cost him $2,000 but Saturday is proof that a united community is priceless.
Investigators have received several tips from the public but say they’d still like to speak to a number of witnesses.
Anyone with information is being asked to call the Toronto police or CrimeStoppers anonymously.
