Six people shot at Ajax BBQ party, one in critical condition

 

Six people shot at Ajax BBQ party, one in critical condition (msn.com)

Six people shot at Ajax BBQ party, one in critical condition

Toronto Sun

 

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Six people shot at Ajax BBQ party, one in critical condition

Jack Boland 

 

© Provided by Toronto SunPolice investigate, after six people were wounded, one critically, at a barbecue held in a mall parking lot on Harwood Ave., near Hwy. 401, in Ajax, on Aug. 1, 2022.

 

 

Six people, including one in critical condition, were rushed to hospital after an early morning shooting at an Ajax barbecue on Monday.

Three men and three women were to sent to hospitals in Toronto and Durham Region after the shooting occurred at 1:20 a.m., according to Durham Regional Police.

At least five forensic officers could be seen Monday walking through a makeshift BBQ party area, located behind Dam Foods Caribbean Market in a plaza on Harwood Ave., near Hwy. 401, in a parking lot.

 

Forensic officers sorted through evidence and shell casings from under more than 50 yellow markers throughout the parking lot.

In the fenced off party area, tables with orange umbrellas and red canopy enclosures were still covered with booze and beer bottles.

James, who uses the services of the Christian Faith Outreach Centre shelter in the plaza, said he was invited to the Sunday party but luckily didn’t go.

“I went around Sunday morning and scoped it out and thought it’s not for me,” said James, as he enjoyed a cigarette while sitting on his scooter.

“It kept going on (all day long) with loud music, and then late last night, it sounded like fireworks.”

James said felt a premonition “that something was going to happen” and found out early Monday morning about the shootings from friends and officers stationed at the crime scene.

 

© Jack BolandPolice officers investigate after a shooting at a barbecue in a fenced-off area of a mall parking lot on Harwood Ave., near Hwy. 401, in Ajax, on Aug. 1, 2022.

 

People could be seen slipping in through the front doors of the Dam Foods store throughout the day.

Khurram Qureshi, a tenant in the strip mall, said “this is not a good thing to happen in our neighbourhood.

“When the parties go too late and incidents like this are happening, violence is happening, gunshots,” said Qureshi. “It is definitely concerning for all of us.”

Calls made to Dam Foods were not returned.

Inside the store, a few men could be seen milling about on mobile phones and peering out the rear doors at the police investigation.

 

But knocks at the front door were waved off by those inside, who did not wish to comment.

A cashier inside the Home Hardware store just north of the mall said she didn’t know anything about the shooting until she came to work Monday morning.

“The police have already been in and taken our store video,” said the cashier.

At the rear of the Home Hardware, observers could see a short rear stairway covered with eight yellow police cones and discarded liquor and beer bottles.

The bottom store stairs led to a slew of 25 more cones that looked a bit like a yellow brick road as police carefully walked through them, taking pictures and bagging shell casings.

A secondary, clustered location, directly in front of the party area, saw officers picking up more shell casings as evidence.

One man hanging around at the scene Monday morning, getting out of his Mercedes SUV, said he was the cook at the BBQ and was standing beside a woman he saw get hit by gunfire. He did not want to offer any other comment.

Gawkers and stragglers drove and walked along Commercial Ave., located behind the plaza, taking snapshots and video on their phones as they watched police doing their investigation.

Police said the BBQ party held at the rear of the store had been a dvertised online.

“We know there were a lot of people in attendance,” said Det. Kristy MacKinnon, who spoke to TV reporters and camera crews.

Police said officers are looking for a dark four-door vehicle seen leaving the scene.