Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown stands by his statement that Toronto gang activity is “spilling over” into Peel Region — a sentiment his Toronto counterpart calls “not very constructive.”Brown tweeted Monday, in response to a shooting on Highway 410 that left one man dead and another injured: “I am sick & tired of 416 gang activity spilling over into Peel Region. We still have not received any of the gun & gang funding that Toronto & Ottawa receive.“This is yet another reminder that gang activity doesn’t respect postal codes.”Brown said in an interview Tuesday he was tweeting out of frustration that his community is still waiting for federal funds, via the provincial government, to combat gangs and guns. Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, in an interview Tuesday, expressed similar frustration following a mass “targeted” shooting in her city Sunday that killed 17-year-old bystander Jonathan Davis and injured five others. “Last year when the (anti) gang and gun funding was announced, the latest iteration of it, it was for Toronto specifically, it wasn’t actually for Peel police or Durham,” Brown said. “You can imagine how frustrating that is, where there is funding, resources, tools available to fight gang activity in Etobicoke, but a few kilometres away in Brampton or Mississauga, those same resources wouldn’t be available.”Asked if he has any information that either of the Peel Region shootings are connected to Toronto gang members, Brown noted he sits on the regional police services board and can’t discuss operational issues. He did say that 60 per cent of Brampton’s shootings this year are gang related and “many of these gangs identify themselves (with) Toronto community-based names — but we’re certainly aware that their membership is dispersed throughout the GTA, including Brampton and Mississauga.”Peel police said ...
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