Our city has been caught in the cross-hairs of gang violence. How do we move forward? What are our elected officials and leaders doing to keep us safe?

On Thursday evening, a special one-hour special took place on 680News, Citytv and CityNews Channel called Toronto Under Fire — a special conversation about gun violence. Questions and comments were submitted for Police chief Bill Blair and Francis D’Souza.

The live chat took place alongside our broadcast at 7 pm. It was streamed live at 680News.com, CityNews.ca/live and the CityNews apps for iPhone & iPad.

Toronto police chief Bill Blair answered questions and took your calls on the issue of guns and gang violence.

During the hour long conversation, Chief Blair said that this situation is not just one for the police to solve but one that needs help from the community and the city.

“You can’t arrest your way out of some of these challenges. There still are young men who are picking up the baton, who are also arming themselves and who have embraced this culture of using extreme violence to resolve conflicts and, in some circumstances, maintain or make their reputations. The police alone cannot deal with that and so we have really engaged with our community partners and there’s been some great work done in the city by those who are working with young people,” said Chief Blair.

“Giving them better opportunities, better choices, helping them through mentoring programs and getting them on the right path. So we have had some success and I think that’s one of the reasons what happened on Monday night was so shocking to everyone, because of the progress that has been made in Toronto in dealing with not only the crimes that were taking place but some of the root causes of those crimes.” 

Anchored by CityNews’ Gord Martineau, Avery Haines was at the site of Monday’s deadly shooting in Scarborough, Roger Petersen was at Yonge-Dundas Square across from the Eaton Centre and 680News reporter Carl Hanstke was in Little Italy, which was rocked during the Euro soccer tournament by a brazen afternoon attack.