Victoria Alarcon
Features & Opinions Editor
@excalweb
Toronto police have released new information about the suspect and shooting that took place at a York student residence February 18.
At a press conference February 23 at 11:30 a.m., Toronto police notified the public and media that they believe the suspect had been tampering with the lock of the victim’s residence door prior to the shooting.
“We started our investigation, went backwards and determined that somebody, and we believe it’s our suspect, was tampering with the victim’s door in some form or other with keys or lock picks,” says Det-Sgt. Al Coulter of 31 Division.
At this time, police do not know whether there is a connection between the suspect and the unharmed victim, but are confident that the suspect is responsible for the shooting.
The alleged suspect was charged with a number of charges including three counts of mischief, two counts of attempted break and enter, and one charge of discharged firearms endangering life. The police have seized three weapons from the suspect, one of those weapons being a 12-gauge Remington 870 shotgun.
Some of those charges, says Coulter, were related to previous incidents at the same victim’s door. The 31-year old female is a graduate student at York, who has been living at the location since 2008.
Andrew MacDonald, a 35-year-old first-year law student at Osgoode Hall Law School, has been arrested in connection with the incident.
In response to the shooting, York’s chair of the management safety committee/vice-president of finance and administration Gary Brewer is assuring that York is committed to the safety its students.
“It is deeply concerning to all of us that the alleged suspect, a member of our student community has so seriously compromised the safety of everyone at York,” says Brewer. “York is a community of nearly 60,000 people, a small city, and we face all the same issues as society at large.”
“Unfortunately, incidents happen,” he continued. “That’s why the university has and continues to be committed to safety and the safety of our community and why we continually review safety enhancement.”
Brewer is set to release a report within 90 days concerning the investigation and safety of York.
York president Mamdouh Shoukri released a statement in response to the incident saying that he is “extremely thankful that no one was physically hurt,” and that York “will continue to work closely with the Toronto police and determine what York needs to further enhance safety.”
Though the suspect appeared in court today, Toronto Police will be asking for a three-day remand until Monday.
If you have any information about this incident, please contact Toronto Police Service directly at 416.808.2222 or York Security at 416.736.5333.
