Deadly Weekend: 15-Year-Old Boy One of Three Toronto Homicide Victims Over Long Weekend

The “targeted” shooting of a 15-year-old boy in a North York plaza parking lot was one of three homicides in Toronto over the Labour Day weekend, city police say.
The teen was transported to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Det.-Sgt. Ted Lioumanis said Mario’s death remains under investigation.
“I can tell you … at this point that he was targeted,” Lioumanis said during the press conference, adding that police are still investigating the motive.
“I can also tell you that there were multiple rounds fired at the deceased.”
Police said a dark-coloured vehicle was observed entering the plaza parking lot and a firearm was “subsequently discharged.”
Officers are canvasing the area looking for video surveillance footage from area businesses, many of which were closed on the day of the killing, Lioumanis said.
“I am heartbroken today I, I never thought I would be in this situation but it is a reality I have to face,” she wrote. “Rest in Peace my boy, I already miss you.”
Mario was set to begin Grade 11 at Weston Collegiate Institute Sept. 4, the school’s principal said in a letter to the school community.
“Our community experienced a tragic loss this past Monday, with the sudden death of Mario Giddings,” principal Rosanna Deo wrote in the letter that was forwarded to The Epoch Times.
In addition to the murders, there were five firearm discharges and three shootings with injuries, Insp. Paul Krawczyk of TPS’s Integrated Gun and Gang Task Force told the press conference.
“Unfortunately, we had a very violent weekend in the city,” Krawczyk said. “Five of these discharges and shootings happened on Sunday.”
Police seized six guns and laid charges against six people in relation to the weekend incidents that included two assaults and an auto theft, he said, adding that police are not yet able to provide much information about the other the homicides because the investigations are in the early stages.
“I appreciate that events like these can spread fear in the community,” he said. “ I want to stress, though, that we need your help to disrupt this violence. If you see something that doesn’t seem right, if you know someone that you believe has a firearm, please call the police.”
Organized crime enforcement unit Supt. Paul McIntyre described the amount of shootings over the weekend as “shocking.”
The latest shootings are continuing a 2024 trend of increased gun violence in the city.
Police have seized 491 crime guns so far this year, McIntyre said, noting that 85 percent of the firearms have come from the United States.
Toronto police are responding by taking an “intelligence-led, all-hands-on-deck approach to combating [gun] violence,” he said, adding that “great strides” are being made in solving many of the weekend incidents.
“We have teams right now that are out on the road and are working at the station, following up with the shootings that happened this weekend,” McIntyre said. “We are going to make some arrests.”