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Shooting on the Subway
'Pandemonium' after woman shot in subway
TheStar.com - GTA - 'Pandemonium' after woman shot in subway
RICK EGLINTON/TORONTO STAR
Bloor Street subway line just north of Aberfoyle Cres. Ex-TTC vice-chair witnessed scene at Spadina station
March 29, 2008
Sarah Boesveld and Amy Fuller
Staff Reporters
A young woman was shot on a subway train just as it rolled into Spadina station Friday night, halting service and causing pandemonium in the downtown commuter stop.
The woman was taken to St. Michael’s Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police say she had been travelling north on the University-Spadina line when a fight broke out with three men. As the train arrived at the Spadina station, one of the men pulled out a gun and shot the victim.
Rob Davis, former vice-chair of the TTC, witnessed the scene as the train opened its doors at the Spadina station platform around 8:45 p.m. He said that he can't recall ever hearing of a shooting on a subway car, anywhere on the TTC system.
"I don't know what was on the mind of this lunatic,” he said. "He certainly could have fired many more rounds."
Davis had just come from Chinatown with a friend visiting from Berlin. As they waited to get on the last door of the last car going north, they were met with a rush of young people trying to get off.
"As they pushed through the door, I heard a gunshot on the train itself. People started running, it was kind of pandemonium," he said Friday night. "People were rushing in an excited way to get off the train."
Davis pulled his friend back into an alcove on the platform next to the escalators. When he heard someone yell that there was a shooting, the former city councillor ran upstairs in the platform, called 911 and then returned to the train stalled in the station.
"There was a victim, a young teenage girl. I remember she was wearing white jeans. She'd been shot in the upper thigh," he said.
She had fallen inside the car, about ten feet from where Davis had tried to board the train.
A girl who Davis believes is the victim's friend, applied pressure to the wound, trying to make the bleeding stop. Another man was trying to comfort her and "calm her down," since she was going into shock.
Davis says he remembers the victim saying her leg hurt. "I think she was crying out in pain that it hurt so much."
Davis says he only heard one shot and didn't believe there was a gunfight. Alternate reports say the young woman pulled a knife on the suspect first.
"The one guy who stayed and helped, he seemed to suggest that it was a group of young men sort of squaring off against a group of young girls," Davis said.
After he had checked to see that the gunman had fled, Davis called 911 again to tell them the scene was clear and ask that they rush the ambulance. Davis noted the irony of the situation since he was vice-chair of the TTC from 1998 to 2000. He also helped create the "gun-buy-back" program in 2000, an initiative that encourages the safe disposal of guns.
It was a scene he said he won't soon forget.
"There were a few people crying; it was very bad, it was very stressful and it was quite disgusting," he said, adding that he didn’t see the suspect run from the scene.
"I have to confess, I was afraid. Justifiably so, because I didn't know whether it was going to be a gun battle or whether it was a one-off incident."
Davis said the incident says more about the culture of the city than the safety of the TTC, and called the TTC a "victim" in the crime. But he also said, "For me, this has shaken my faith a little bit in my decision not to own a car.
"I'm sure other people are thinking the same."
Police combed the area to try to find three male suspects, all between 18 and 20 years old and wearing dark-coloured clothing. One man had a beard and an athletic build, and another had braided hair.
Subway trains diverted and soon service between St. George and St. Clair West screeched to a halt as investigators talked to witnesses on scene. Shuttle buses were called in to get passengers from point A to point B.
Spadina station sits on the border between three police divisions, which caused a bit of initial confusion as to whose crime scene it was. Officers from 14, 52 and 53 divisions all arrived on scene to aid in the investigation.
Adam Giambrone, current TTC chair, said a fare collector was killed at the Victoria Park station in 1995 and other stabbings have occurred from time to time.
"The TTC is wound into the very fabric of the city and the life of the city goes on in the TTC as well," he said.
But he stressed that Toronto's crime rates are low if compared to other Canadian cities on a per capita basis and said the TTC is adding more security cameras and special constables.
Anyone with information can call 53 Division police at 416-808-5304 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477.
With files from Joanna Smith
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