Two people were killed and five others were injured at Toronto’s Salsa on St. Clair Festival over the weekend. Hours later, shots were fired near Polson Pier, a ride share was carjacked with passengers inside, and the suspect struck pedestrians and vehicles while fleeing.
David Menzies and Sheila Gunn Reid reacted to the wild weekend in Toronto on Monday’s Rebel Roundup livestream.
“I started the stopwatch to see how quick it would be before the CBC and the Toronto Star trotted out the anti-gun advocates,” David said.
Sure enough, the CBC ran a headline that made no mention of bail reform or gang violence. “Advocates speak out against gun violence following troubling weekend of shootings,” it read.
Sheila was blunt about who was actually involved.
“These are illegal firearms,” she said. “Any gun control measure you force on the rest of us doesn’t touch these people at all. And in fact, it draws police resources away from the real bad guys.”
The Polson Pier suspect, Omar Abdul-Singate, 25, of Brampton, was charged with four counts of forcible confinement, discharging a firearm recklessly, unauthorized possession of a firearm, possessing a firearm while prohibited — meaning he was already under a firearms prohibition — robbery, dangerous operation causing bodily harm, and dangerous operation.
A second suspect remains at large.
Both hosts also took aim at how Toronto police characterized the St. Clair shooting on social media, where it was described as an “active shooter” situation.
Former Toronto police officer Jay Bannister, now of Mad Lab Press, told David the term was misleading. “When I hear active shooter, I’m thinking someone is still out there with a gun, walking down the street shooting innocent people,” David said, relaying Bannister’s assessment.
“What we had was gangbangers shooting other gangbangers, and then they made their escape. That’s not an active shooter.”
Sheila agreed. “This is just the gang war using this street festival as a battleground,” she said.
David closed with a note on bail, saying he could not confirm whether Abdul-Singate had been released, but was confident the question was worth asking.
“That is way more problematic,” Sheila said, “than taking away firearms from legal, law-abiding Canadians.”
Hellbound and Down 