Community comes together after Danforth mass shooting

A community is coming together after a tragic night in one of the city’s most popular neighbourhoods.

An 18-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl were killed when a gunman opened fire in the Danforth on Sunday night. Thirteen other people were injured. The shooter was found dead nearby after a confrontation with police, the Special Investigations Unit said.

No motive for the shooting has been announced.

As more details began to surface in the morning light, dozens of people turned to social media to offer help to those who may be in need.

Messages began to roll through Facebook’s ‘crisis response’ section from people across the city, offering shelter, water, food, transportation, babysitting services, emotional support and even a dog to hug.

On Reddit, people were being encouraged to post their best memory or experience in Toronto.

“I will never forget the way the city banded together during the 2003 blackout. It was a truly beautiful moment and I had never felt such camaraderie as I did when I walked around the city that night,” one person posted.

“An Aussie musician friend of mine got drunk and left his guitar and banjo in the trunk of a cab. He said as soon as he realized and rushed back to the street in a panic, the driver was pulling back up to hand them over, and chastised him for his neglect: “If you were in any other city you would have lost these,” another user posted to the thread.

But for those living on the Danforth, it isn’t about fond memories, it’s about not letting this terrible tragedy define the neighbourhood they still believe is safe.

“For the people here, this is their home. The entire street is their home, not just their houses. That’s the kind of neighbourhood that it is,” Howard Lichtman, spokesperson for Greektown on the Danforth BIA, told CityNews.

One of the city’s biggest street festivals — the Taste of the Danforth — is still expected to go on as planned.

“This wasn’t aimed at the Danforth. The Danforth is safe today, it’ll be safe during the festival,” Lichtman said.

“The city is pretty strong, resilient and defiant. It doesn’t change the lives that are lost, but I’m pretty sure the people will be here because that’s the kind of city that we are.”

NXNE president Michael Hollett has called the Danforth home for decades.

He and his family were planning on going for a walk last night but changed their plans 15 minutes before the shooting.

Despite the close call, Hollett feels his community is still strong and safe.

“My neighbour’s already been talking about when the tape goes down, we go out and repopulate the patios and shake the hands of the restaurateurs and the merchants — the people who helped last night,” he said.

“This is an abundantly safe neighbourhood. One of the things that makes it so is one of the things that made it vulnerable last night, because there’s always people on the street. You rarely walk alone on the Danforth — literally and now metaphorically.”

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