It was a pleasant late-summer evening in Malton as families, including young children, gathered around an ice cream truck that had pulled up near a parkette in a lowrise rental housing complex on Darcel Ave.But the tranquil scene was suddenly shattered at around 6:15 p.m. Saturday when a group of seven shooters, dressed in dark clothing, their faces covered by balaclavas, opened fire. A 17-year-old, whom friends have identified as Jonathan Davis and whom police are calling an innocent bystander, is dead. Five others, including a 13-year-old girl, whom one neighbour said was a Syrian refugee recently arrived in Canada, were injured.The motive for the gunfire?Police say the bad blood was sparked by a rap video recorded earlier in the week at the low-income complex, located in the Hwy. 427 and Morning Star Dr. area.The intended target of the shooters, police say, was a group of men who had recorded the first video and who were preparing to make another when the bullets started flying.The children, young people and adults all dove for cover. The shooters, armed with semi-automatic handguns according to police, had arrived on foot and fled the scene on foot, leaving more than 100 shell casings behind.The men making the video also fled.No arrests have been made.Several vehicles parked in the complex were also hit by bullets.Davis, a Grade 12 student at Lincoln M. Alexander Secondary School, was pronounced dead at the scene.Peel Region police homicide detectives are investigating the incident, the 18th homicide in Peel this year.One resident, who would only give the name “Stef” because she is left feeling “paranoid” after the shooting, was out walking her dog Sunday as police combed the parkette looking for casings and other clues.The long-time resident said that aside from the odd drug bust, she considers the complex safe.“We’ve never had anything to this scale,” she said.The shooters had approached the complex covertly. They ...
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