Police Sound Alarm on Gun Violence - City saw three homicides over holiday weekend

Police search the scene of a homicide Sunday in the area of Times Road and Eglinton Avenue West. In Toronto over the weekend, a 37-year-old Brampton man, a 15-year-old boy and a 64-year-old man, both from Toronto, were fatally shot in separate events.

- Raju Mudhar and Daniel Ramos

Amid a rash of shootings, gun seizures and rising homicides, Toronto police warned Tuesday of the role of guns in the violence playing out across the city.

Three homicides occurred over the Labour Day weekend, bringing the tally to 54 murders in Toronto this year so far, on pace to match 2021’s 85, the deadliest in the past five years, though still well short of the 98 seen in 2018.

The city saw a 37-year-old Brampton man fatally shot in Little Jamaica on Sunday morning and a 15year-old boy from Toronto die in hospital after being shot in North York on Monday night.

Mario Giddings has been identified as the 15-year-old who police say was targeted.

A 64-year-old man from Toronto is also dead after being found with gunshot wounds outside a Scarborough home on Saturday night.