An east-end apartment building that residents say has a history of violence was the scene of a record-setting homicide Sunday afternoon. Emergency services responded to reports of multiple gunshots at the West Hill Apartments at the busy intersection of Lawrence Ave. E. and Kingston Rd. at around 1:30 p.m., and located a man suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.The shooting is Toronto’s 90th homicide of 2018, breaking a record set in 1991.A heavy police presence descended on the scene, including dozens of officers in more than 10 police cruisers.At about 3 p.m. members of the Toronto Police Service Emergency Task Force drove up to the 13-storey building with sirens flashing. They entered the building with guns drawn but in no apparent hurry. Additional officers could be seen on the landings of several floors inside.As police canvassed apartments looking for witnesses to the crime, residents congregated on the ground floor and at the entrance of the building. Some told reporters there has been violence at the highrise before, including a serious stabbing in August that almost killed a man. Read more:The 90 victims of Toronto’s record year in homicide What Toronto’s homicide record means — and what we can do about itEvery Toronto homicide in the past 15 years — mappedSome residents expressed frustration and fear about the conditions in the building, which is a Toronto Community Housing property. “I’ve got to get out of here,” said Paulette Walcott, who said she has lived at the building for more than eight years and was using a walker to make her way up the sidewalk in front of the apartment. “I’m not safe inside here,” she said, adding the situation was going “from bad to worse.”Sam Perseud, 65, said he spent the weekend at his brother’s house, and was shaken when he returned to his apartment to see police outside the building. A neig ...
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