When Daniel Niszcz was looking for places to rent out for Echelon International, his fledgling business running a virtual firing range, he had certain criteria in mind. It had to be fairly large — big enough to accommodate a projection video screen for the competition-style targets, and a row of shooters, using laser-assisted replica firearms. It had to be easy to get to — East York was ideal — and the price had to be right.One thing that Niszcz didn`t do when he signed an agreement to rent the basement yoga studio at 371 Danforth Ave. for four Saturdays in December and January was look at a map. “Honest to God, we were looking up places that were on a list and not on a map,” said Niszcz in an interview with Metroland Media Toronto. “It wasn’t until we arrived there and signed up for a month that we realized” where it was.As it turns out, the studio (which is underneath a hair salon) is situated west of Logan Ave., across the street from Chester Ave., where on July 22, 2018, 29-year-old Faisal Hussain opened fire with an automatic pistol, killing two people and injuring 13 before taking his own life.Ward 14 Councillor Paula Fletcher called the decision to operate the business there “highly inappropriate.”“I think to open up a simulated firearms business across the street from where two beautiful young women died and so many others were injured is shocking,” she said. “I don`t know of any city bylaws against it but this is a little too real.”While Niszcz said the shooting range is explicitly devoted to competitive-style sport shooting — and does not use real firearms at all — he didn`t have to be told to move on.“After reserving the place for a month, we did realize exactly the implications of it,” he said. “Even if it’s just for competition shooting, people associate shooting with violence. We put two and two together, and we said, just for hon ...
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