For those who didnt hear, there was YET ANOTHER shooting in Toronto on Boxing Day.
Shooting in Toronto
Right in the heart of the downtown shopping district, in amongst the Boxing Day Sales crowd, some young idiots decided to open fire.
A 15 year old girl, out shopping for bargains with a parent, was killed when one of the bullets hit her in the head. Quite a few others were injured in the rain of random bullets.
I feel so angry and, at the same time, I am on the verge of tears because this poor innocent girl was cut down, she was simply out with her mum or dad and probably spending the money she got for xmas....! How horribly awful for her parent to watch their child just randomly, senselessly killed right in front of them.
Now she's dead. And the stupid fucks that decided it would be manly, it would be fun to shoot into a crowd probably dont give a shit at all.
When I heard there was another shooting I simply rolled my eyes and shook my head. There's been so MANY shootings in this city since I've been here and 99 % of the time its been 'gang shootings'. I instantly presumed this was another gang related incident.
I've always been pretty at ease walking around Melbourne. Some might say almost too confident but my 'danger signal' is finely tuned and I know when to be super cautious when I've been walking in the city or wherever back home.
I used to walk around in Bourke Street Mall and surrounding streets at night with no fear at all of being SHOT AT for gods sake ! Or injured in any other way. And I hope it stays that way...
In Toronto, however, I've gotten to the stage where I don't feel too safe even walking around in daylight, downtown. Let alone travelling alone to any other spot here. Toronto is a great city and I don't mean to 'bash' my adopted city but no one can really blame me for feeling uneasy.
I was planning on going downtown on Boxing Day, around that area where the shooting occurred, to do some shopping. Luckily I didnt go eh....
Once I was waiting for Josh outside a store. I was outside taking photos of the surrounding buildings and I was approached twice by men, one who hung around for no reason asking me questions. My hackles raised because I sensed he was up to no good. At that same time, a metre away from me was another guy, standing there. Again, I sensed something from him too. The two didnt appear to know each other but nontheless, each had their own agenda and I knew it. Josh came out of the store and we started walking past the second guy when he asked us for a ciggarette. We shook our heads and continued walking and he started to smartmouth us, following us. Josh immediantly went into 'work mode'. We finally lost the guy after a block and it was from there that the notion solidified that this particular Dorothy wasnt in Kansas anymore.
Another time, the day before we flew out to New Orleans we were sitting down on the pavement having a smoke before we went in to catch our train up to Josh's friends place. Sitting beside our luggage, we were minding our own business when some young punk with a bandana approached us and asked us for a smoke. Then he proceeded to stand there over us and grilled Josh.
" Hey, dont I know you "?
Josh remained calm and replied he didnt think so.
"Whats your name man. I know you. I know your face, yeah....."
The questions continued. He asked Josh if he was a cop and he was acting a little agitated and determined to figure out where exactly he knew Josh from. And it wasnt leading anywhere friendly. Josh encounters this problem a lot, considering the line of work he's in so Josh had been through this before and knew how to respond. The guy had something in his pocket and had his hand in there,playing with whatever it was. His stance was one of someone who was considering fastly whether to use the pocket item on Josh and run. Both Josh and my 'danger signals' were on high alert, needless to say. The kid also made note of me, telling Josh I looked like Alanis Morrisette ( what the fuck ! I was considering pulling something out of MY pocket and using it on him just for that !). I knew this comment was made to let Josh know that he had gotten a good look at his girl, for futures sake. We finally said we had a train to catch and 'see ya later mate' and we walked inside.
I remained calm, like Josh, but inside I was a little shaky. The calm facade was needed, akin to a situation when you're dealing with an agitated animal. NO sudden movvvvves.
To the ppl of Toronto, don't let your city continue on it's path to New York/LA status.
To these little boys running around with big guns thinking they're men because they're oh-so-tough and can shoot ppl, may their karma turn around to bite them so hard on the ass.
I just don't get how they think they're tough when all they do is apply pressure on a trigger with their finger. If they need to prove so badly that they're big tough guys, why cant they put away their weapons and go hand to hand combat.....with each other..... farrrrr away from anyone else.
Very far.
Mars, in fact.
Can Nasa hurry up and make that planet somewhat liveable so these punk thugs can go fuck off there ?
While we're at it, can we send a few politician fat-cats while we're at it ?
Oh and Ashley Simpson/Lindsay Lohan and co. can be missiled off as well.
4 comments:
I hate how people are sensationalizing this. I don't mean to belittle the girl and her family, I feel terrible for them; however, the way you see these healdines in the news makes you feel as though you're living in a ghetto where people are shot every hour of the day. Toronto is an EXTREMELY safe city. How do I know? Statistics. They are the only trustworthy way to figure out how dangerous a city is. I don't mean to sound cold or anything, but I can't believe how people are saying that they don't feel safe in a city just because of a single shooting. New York has a murder rate 3 times as high as Toronto, yet I never hear how people are afraid to visit Times Square, or the statue of liberty.
I definately don't mean to sound like I'm 'sensationalising' the shootings or making Toronto out to be a 'ghetto'.
I'm voicing my emotions and my feelings from my own perspective and noting the differences between how I felt living in Melbourne as opposed to another city in the world.
Is my comfort zone, in Melbourne, based on familiararity? Partially, yes. If Australia doesnt check ITSELF though, our crime rate will go up also, unfortunately.
That's my message to Torontorians also, keep the wonderful city for what it is and try to stem this flow of violence, whether it be gun violence or the like.
I wouldn't say statistics are completely trustworthy considering that not everything gets documented (either on purpose or by accident or just simply because it wasn't known so couldn't be documented)but i'm just being fussy here.
I think its a bit sad that shootings have become so common in our world that you are blase enough to say 'but I can't believe how people are saying that they don't feel safe in a city just because of a single shooting'
a single shooting? isn't one enough? I really hate that people are so cold with their feelings that this poor little girl is just 'One victim' so not exciting enough to get all het up about.I do think the fact that there is people on the loose who would shoot into an innocent crowd makes the place a bit less safe so people are right to feel a little bit less safe, if they felt safe then nothing would ever change and innocent people would keep on getting hurt.
So what if New York has a higher murder rate? I don't think you should be content that yours is lower but concerned that these things are happening in your part of the world as well and I am sure it is slowly on the raise.
And tell me what exactly is being sensationalized about this? I think the fact that people can walk into a shopping centre (or where ever) and shoot a whole heap of people and kill an innocent girl before she really even got the chance to live should induce a massive cry out, can you imagine if it was one of yours? would you want it to be like she was worth nothing and not even worth a cry of rage and fear from the people that it is possible for people to do this to others?
Why does this bothor you so little that you are more concerned about how your city comes out as that you feel the need to comment on a strangers blog about her perceptions on a place she is living in? I actually think the fact that she isn't a native gives her quite a different insight, her view is so fresh and she is seeing things that the natives have become so used to that they would be numb and tuned out from it.
You are right you do sound cold.
Hey Lumi, It's bace.
Definatly agree that Toronto is becoming unsafer by the second. It's not just shootings. I've been approached and bothered by someone outside a friend house in the last year. Luckily he didn't sense the fear and the glass bottle in my hand kinda made him uneasy. He ended up threatening my life at the end of the convo my friend and I left her place so he wouldn't think she lived there. We called the police and watched him harrass a few other people down the street. Got a call 3 hours later from the who cops who said that picked him up at the corner of Bathhurst and Bloor. Some creepy people out there.
To the person who said that it's being "sensationalized" and that our crime rate is lower than New Yorks. Well...that's fine, but also take into account that the population in New York is probably 5 times Toronto. What's been going on these past 8 months is insane. No question about it. When innocents are killed in the crossfire, it's time to get things dealt with.
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