The body count in what has turned out to be a deadly November rose again yesterday when a gunman ambushed a 32-year-old man after he got out of his limo at a pal's downtown condo.
The killing in front of 1001 Bay St. -- an upscale tower just north of Wellesley St. -- is the eighth in the city so far this month. More people have been killed this month than any other in 2009.
"It happened pretty quickly and it appears at this time that the victim was targeted," said Toronto Police Det. Graham Gibson.
According to friends, the victim, whose name was not immediately released, was dropped off in a white stretch limousine out front of the highrise after a night of clubbing around 3:20 a.m., he said yesterday.
"The suspect was waiting nearby for (him)," said Gibson, of the homicide squad.
A gunman opened fire on the victim and fled west along St. Joseph St.
A gun was later found west of the scene, near Queen's Park. The firearm is likely the murder weapon but it will have to be examined and tested to be sure, said Gibson, who was unable to provide a motive for the slaying.
Officers spent the day talking to the victim's friends and canvassing area residents, many of whom heard the shooting.
"It was insane. It was like pow, pow, pow," said Lia Messina, who awoke to gunfire and rushed to the window of her St. Joseph St. apartment.
RUSHING TO HIS SIDE
When she looked down onto the street, Messina saw a man on the ground and several others, believed to be his friends, rushing to his side and calling for help.
"One woman was just screaming," Messina said, adding she felt the woman's pain cut right through her as she watched the "surreal" incident unfold.
She and others who live nearby said about six shots were fired.
Several articles of clothing, including the coat one of the victim's friends used to keep the man warm as he died, remained on the blood-stained sidewalk hours after the shooting.
There were many bullet holes in the windows of the building's lobby and an adjacent Pizza Nova, which closed at 2 a.m. and was empty when the shots rang out.
Just last month, Toronto was on pace for a decade-low homicide rate and it looked as though the city would end the year with less than 50 murders.
But the banner year has been shattered by a spate of killings over the last three weeks.
Since Nov. 2, eight lives have been snuffed out, five of them by gunfire and all of them individual homicides with no apparent link to each other.
That makes November the deadliest month so far this year with 25% more murders than any other month.
And there's still a week to go before the month ends.
Police have little information to go on in the latest murder, which may have been captured by two surveillance cameras at the front of the condo tower.
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MURDER TOLL RISING
November has been deadly month
Murder toll in Toronto during the past three weeks:
- Nov. 2: Theodoros "Freshie" Tiku, 27, gunned down allegedly by a rival gang member on Gough Ave., near Pape and Danforth Aves.
- Nov. 3: Kevin Phouthonesy, 24, shot dead possibly over drugs at a housing complex on Sentinel Rd., southwest of Keele St. and Finch Ave. W.
- Nov. 4: Gerald Robert Brown, 67, a retired dentist, fatally stabbed in his home on Bedford Rd.in the Annex.
- Nov. 7: Jeff Munro, 32, beaten to death in the Don Jail allegedly by three fellow inmates.
- Nov. 8: Ming Yang, 27, a Chinese citizen, fatally stabbed -- allegedly by a co-worker -- at a sushi restaurant on Bloor St. W. near Bathurst St.
- Nov. 11: Robert Flaggello, 18, an aspiring cop, shot dead in a laneway next to a barbershop at Vaughan Rd. and Glenora Dr.
- Nov. 17: Alex Rundle, 28, shot dead in a home invasion on Wincott Dr., near Kipling Ave. and Dixon Rd.
- Nov. 22: A 32-year-old man was ambushed outside a friend's Bay St. condo by a gunman who was waiting for him to be dropped off by a limo.
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WORST MONTH
STILL A WEEK LEFT
Here's a month-by-month breakdown of murders so far this year:
- January: 5
- February: 5
- March: 1
- April: 4
- May: 6
- June: 5
- July: 5
- August: 6
- September: 4
- October: 4
- November: 8 (1 week to go)
Total: 53
