The Eaton Centre Shooting

I work at the Eaton Centre and frequently visit the food court where the killer opened fire Saturday night. I note that witnesses described the shooter as dark skinned, wearing a hoodie and baggy pants. I also saw the photo of one of the victims, who was a black man. The police say it was a targeted killing. Several of the victims were innocent bystanders. A pregnant woman was trampled by people fleeing the scene. She went into labour.

People who live in Toronto are fully aware that when there is a shooting, the likely shooter is a black male, just as likely the victim is also a black male. There is an almost general acceptance from Torontonians that if you keep the violence within your own community, we will turn a blind eye towards it. The shootings almost always take place in their own neighbourhoods. The Jane Creba murder, on Boxing Day near the Eaton Centre a few years back, shocked the city as the black killers, shot at each other with the rest of us a potential collateral damage. This Eaton Centre shooting will cause the same reaction.

When the dust settles the reactions will be predictable. The Toronto Star will downplay the race of the shooters and call for society to fix the root of the problem, inequality and lack of opportunity for black youth. The Toronto Sun will call for increased police budgets and immigration reform.

My hope is that there is not a repeat of the summer of the gun, where we hired hundreds more police officers. Overall the crime rate has been dropping dramatically, year after year. We don't need more cops, they could not have prevented this incident.

How do you decrease black on black crime? I don't know the answer. I don't think you can in one or two generations. We can just hope that they go back to our unwritten agreement and take the violence back to their hood.

We can't live in fear. I will be back in the Eaton Centre food court this week. It will probably be the safest place in the city.