There were no flowers to mark the sadness of another senseless slaying.
But there were still blood stains on the sidewalk on Wednesday.
There is so much the city of Toronto doesn’t know about this disturbing crime that occurred at 12:30 a.m. Sunday.
What Toronto Police do know is the eight girls charged in the heinous knifing murder of a 59-year-old “homeless” man started their early morning violent crime spree at Union Station where it is believed they met up.
What police don’t know just yet is why the accused girls — aged 13 to 16 from different areas of the city — connected?
“We know that two of the girls knew each other but we don’t believe the rest did,” Homicide Det.-Sgt. Terry Browne said.
It is alleged they travelled north from Union Station and a few metres up York St. where they saw a woman seated in a Parkette drinking alcohol. They allegedly tried to rob the vulnerable woman of her bottle, but police believe the woman’s male friend intervened.
“They all jumped him,” said a man who lives at the Strathcona Hotel turned homeless shelter.
Browne used the word “swarming.”
The victim suffered “multiple” punctures and stab wounds.
A woman who was also on the scene said, “People didn’t even know he had been stabbed. They talked to him for 20 minutes if you can believe it. He couldn’t talk and yet it took them a long time to call an ambulance.”
In the meantime, the girls stayed together in the pack. This would later help in the investigation to locate them.
“It was just some great police work by the uniformed officers at 52 Division,” said Browne. “Some very quick thinking.”
While there had been one incident allegedly involving the group of girls prior to the murder, there was also another incident an hour later. No one was hurt in either of the other two incidents, but there were reports of rude and abusive behaviour. And police took notice.
“The officers had heard about the eight girls and decided to arrest them all right there,” said Browne.
How many lives did those coppers potentially save?
The eight teens were later charged with second-degree murder. But when police do that, under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, they must phone their parents and record that they did.
“All of the parents were attentive and concerned,” said Browne. “All of the girls are from stable homes.”
People want to know if there was a role the technology of 2022 could have played in this? What has happened to our city and the youth in it?
Do you know where your kids are at 12:30 a.m.? Most of these parents didn’t and told police they were surprised they were downtown.
Police are now combing through social media platforms to find the origin of the gathering. A concert? Party?
What police have allegedly ascertained from video of the corner is that “all eight” were involved in the attack.
Under YCJA their names can’t be mentioned and all of the charges against them have not been proven in court. They have been remanded into custody until at least their next court appearance on Jarvis st. on Dec 29th.
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While they can apply for emergency bail, it is not believed any of the eight have done so. It appears they may very well be locked up over Christmas.
Over at the shelter, residents said they were not surprised by this heinous incident that has shocked the city.
“People have been stabbed there before,” said one man who knew the victim. “Lots of young people today beat on the homeless.”
Police, at the request of his family, have not released the victim’s birth name. But residents knew him as “Kenny.”
It is believed he had not been living at the shelter since the summer but was “hanging around to be near the woman who was originally attacked.” They, reportedly, had an up and down relationship.
Residents said “Kenny” told them he had been living in a home in Richmond Hill but had secured a job in the stock market field.
“He had a breakdown but he said he had a job,” said a friend.
That he bled to death across from the Royal York hotel is a stain on Toronto that will be harder to scrub off than the blood stain left behind in the wake of his murder.
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