Fifteen years after the shooting death of 11-year-old Ephraim Brown, people who lived close to the young boy’s family remember how his violent death reshaped their neighbourhood.
“I don’t think the people that were here when it happened will ever forget that,” said Robin, who did not wish to share her last name.
“There was a lot of anger, tears and sadness,” she said. “But I have also seen a lot of unity come from that.”
Robin has lived in a Toronto Community Housing townhouse complex on Sheppard Ave. W, just east of Jane St., for 46 years.
The day of the shooting – July 22, 2007 – she was in her backyard, heard the shots a couple of doors west, and hit the ground petrified.
“That was the first shooting that happened in this neighbourhood in the 46 years I have been here,” Robin said. “But there have been many more since.”
Standing in her doorway Friday – just steps from the narrow, enclosed walkway where the shooting happened – she described how the block of townhomes has changed.
“It’s made things sad because this neighbourhood used to be teeming with children – playing and doing their own thing.”
That day, as Ephraim played with some neighbourhood friends at a cousin’s birthday, bullets began to fly in a faceoff between two groups of young men that allegedly stemmed from dirty looks.
Forensic evidence suggested at least three guns were fired.
Ephraim tried to run toward the covered laneway between two townhouses. A bullet entered his neck and exited through his back.
https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/torontosun/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Gerald-Brown.jpg?quality="90&strip=all&w=576 2x" height="1024" loading="lazy" src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/torontosun/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Gerald-Brown.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288" width="974"/>
His devastated mother later regretted letting him go outside to attend the party.
Robin said Ephraim’s family has since relocated to the Maritimes.
Akiel Eubank and Gregory Sappleton, both 24, were charged with second-degree murder.
They were accused of firing weapons in a battle between two gangs, identified as the Five Point Generalz and the Baghdad Crew.
They were acquitted by a jury in 2010, which stunned the family and the neighbourhood.
Robin said in 15 years, a stronger relationship has blossomed between the Emmanuel Church of the Nazarene – across the street from where Ephraim was shot – and the local residents.
“That is when this neighbourhood and that church united,” she said.
The church houses a charity called Ephraim’s Place Community Centre – a hub for events, children’s camps, a food bank, and even a free painting service.
“Ephraim’s Place, they’re awesome. It’s big for the community. It gives the kids a place to go. It gives them a place that’s safe,” said Robin.
“People that have been part of rivalries have played ball there together.”
On Twitter: @_ScottLaurie
Post a Comment