Gun violence in downtown Toronto up 167% so far in 2018

There’s been a dramatic increase in gun violence in the downtown core in 2018 with the number of shootings up 167 per cent this year compared to the same time last year.

So far this year there have been 24 shootings within the area covered by Toronto’s two downtown police divisions, 51 Division and 52 Division. The most recent gun violence claimed the life of a man after he was shot in Yonge-Dundas Square Wednesday night.

In the first five months of 2017, there were nine shootings in the area covered by 51 and 52 divisions. Using data from Toronto police, CityNews has created graphs illustrating the upward trend in gun violence in recent years.

Data for 2018 was only available for the first five months of the year

The following is a map showing the different police divisions in Toronto.