In about four hours, the City of Toronto reached an unfortunate milestone last night. After four shootings in Toronto on Monday night, the total number of shootings this year in the city has reached 300. It seems it's a perpetual problem. At around 7:30 p.m. last night, Toronto police were called to the area of Midland and St. Clair avenues for reports of a shooting. It turned out this was just the first call before a series of incidents kept officers busy until the late hours of the night. SHOOTNG:Midland Av + St Clair Av- Man shot- Suspect in a black or dark grey car- Suspect and other males have fled in the car - Victim has serious injuries- Taken to hospital#GO1731204^dh— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) September 9, 2019 According to a CBC article, emergency crews were able to find one male victim at the first scene. He was then taken to hospital due to serious injuries. The next incident was at around 9 p.m. at 101 Humber Blvd., near Weston Road and Black Creek Drive. Police received numerous calls to report multiple gunshots, according to a tweet sent out by Toronto Police Operations. SOUND OF GUNSHOTS:Humber Bl + Weston Rd - Multiple callers report multiple gunshots- Officers searched the area- Have located multiple shell casings- There are also signs of an injury- Investigating#GO1731768^dh— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) September 10, 2019 The third incident happened about an hour-and-a-half later, at around 10:30 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Toronto Airport hotel, near Highway 27 and Dixon Road. A man was reportedly shot in the stomach near the front entrance of the hotel. The final incident was reported just before 11 p.m., as police were called to Willowdale and Byng avenues for shots fired through the window of an apartment, according to the CBC. SHOOTING:Attwell Dr + Carlson Crt- Victim has been located- Suffering from gunshot wounds- Injuries serious but not life threatening- Man seen fleeing in a light or sky blue car- White, short, skinny, baseball cap, dark jacket with 'BMW' on the back^dh— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) September 10, 2019 SHOOTING:Willowdale Av + Byng Av - Shots fired through residence window- No injuries- Police o/s- Officers have located spent shell casings- Investigating#GO1732303^dh— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) September 10, 2019 It's the second horror night for Toronto in the space of week. Overnight last Wednesday, Sept. 5, there was a homicide, a shooting, a TTC crash, and a fire all in the North York area in the space of a few hours. According to data on the Toronto Police website, there had been 297 shootings as of Sept. 8 by 11:59 p.m. By those statistics, these incidents take the total number since Jan. 1, 2019 to 300, an average of more than one shooting per day in the city. Those numbers were confirmed to Narcity by Caroline de Kloet, media relations officer for Toronto Police.* FOUR more shootings in Toronto last night including man shot/wounded outside popular airport area Hotel. 39 y/o shot in stomach just outside front entrance. It brings city close to 300 shooting incidents so far this year. An average of more than 1/day. pic.twitter.com/ubAc8pweTx— carl hanstke (@carl680) September 10, 2019 July saw the worst of that trend, with 55 incidents leaving 81 victims in varying conditions. Despite gun control efforts by the Toronto Police and City of Toronto, illegal firearms appear easy to obtain. Last week, a Toronto radio host took only five hours to find one. And, although it has been a year since Toronto voted to band hand gun sales, the city's crime rate is the worst it's been in a really long time. Stay safe out there. *This article has been updated. There are stories everywhere. If you spot a newsworthy event in your city, send us a message, photo, or video @NarcityCanada on Twitter and Instagram.
