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Toronto, Police Chief Bill Blair says he is concerned with a recent rash of violence in the Etobicoke area that’s claimed the life of three teenagers and left the community searching for answers.
Zaid Youssef, 17, and Michael Menjivar, 15, were both gunned down behind The School of Experiential Education near Islington Avenue and Dixon Road on Monday afternoon in what police have described as a “targeted” homicide.
Their unsolved murders came just two weeks after Hamid Aminzada , 19, was fatally stabbed inside North Albion Collegiate Institute while trying to break up a fight. Aminzada was the first student murdered inside a TDSB school since 15-year-old Jordan Manners was fatally shot inside C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute in 2007.
Zaid Youssef, 17, and Michael Menjivar, 15, were both gunned down behind The School of Experiential Education near Islington Avenue and Dixon Road on Monday afternoon in what police have described as a “targeted” homicide.
Their unsolved murders came just two weeks after Hamid Aminzada , 19, was fatally stabbed inside North Albion Collegiate Institute while trying to break up a fight. Aminzada was the first student murdered inside a TDSB school since 15-year-old Jordan Manners was fatally shot inside C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute in 2007.
Police Chief Bill Blair speaks with reporters on Thursday afternoon.
“I think we are in a much stronger position than we were several years ago because of the partnerships and the relationships that have been built but we are reminded by the violence that has taken place in the last several weeks that we must remain vigilant,” Blair told reporters following a Toronto Police Service board meeting Thursday afternoon. “It wasn’t that long ago when young people going outside a school to resolve a dispute with a fist fight was our biggest worry, so we are very concerned about weapons in the hands of young people and the level of violence that our young people can be exposed to.”
Blair had not previously commented on either Monday’s shooting or the fatal stabbing at North Albion Collegiate Institute and on Thursday he defended his silence, telling reporters that the responsibility to discuss the investigations “should fall to the homicide squad.”
Blair also rejected outright the suggestion that officials should consider placing metal detectors inside public schools in light of the recent rash of violence.
“I don’t think we need metal detectors in schools but I think we always have to be vigilant about weapons coming into schools,” he said. “We have perhaps no greater responsibility than the protection of the young people in this city. Schools have to be safe places.”
Blair was also asked about cuts to the Toronto Police Services budget in 2012 that reportedly resulted in a reduction in the number of school resources officers, but he declined comment, saying that the TPS had to “work as effectively as it can” with the resources available to it.
