Tuesday marks one-year anniversary of Danzig St. shooting
Posted July 16, 2013 9:20 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO – Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of the Danzig Street shooting.
Two people were killed and 23 others injured when shots rang out at a community barbecue in Scarborough, Ont., on July 16, 2012.
Memorials were held to honour Shyanne Charles, 14, and Joshua Yasay, 23, who died in the shooting.
While the Danzig shooting has been described as one of the worst incidents of gang-related violence in the city’s history Toronto’s Police Chief Bill Blair said Friday that Scarborough is very different these days.
Blair said that the area is safer than it was a year ago as the community recovers from the violence that rocked the community barbecue.
“The officers in 43 Division really have been working very closely in that community. They have foot patrols and dedicated neighbourhood resources going into Danzig almost everyday,” Blair commented.
Since the shooting last year there’s been a decline in crime throughout the city overall.
“We have seen, compared to this time last year, a 22 percent reduction in violent occurrences, particularly gun related occurrences in the city. That’s not an insignificant decline,” according to Blair.
A group of community members were hosting a barbecue for families in a Danzig Street housing complex when shots erupted between rival gangs. Since then the community continues to show resiliency according to Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair.
“I also have seen tremendous improvement in the relationship between my officers working in that neighbourhood and the people that live there and all those social service and emergency service agencies who serve that community.”
Four teenagers are still before the courts on a slew of charges in connection with the shooting.
