Police trying to determine if grandmother killed in Riverside shooting was targeted
Toronto police are trying to determine if a 61-year-old woman killed in a Riverside-area shooting Saturday night was targeted.
On Sunday police identified the victim as Peggy Ann Smith. She was found with an apparent gunshot wound in an alleyway behind a home near Don Mount Court and Kintyre Avenue shortly after 6:15 p.m., and was pronounced dead at the scene.
"It's hard to imagine that a 61-year-old grandmother would be the target of this kind of violence, however our investigators are poring over evidence," Const. David Hopkinson told CBC News. "That will be determined in the final investigation."
Neighbourhood resident Susan Bryant says Smith didn't live at the home where the shooting took place but was often there helping to look after daughter's children.
'They just started running'
Bryant told CBC News that the daughter who lives at the home told her she and Smith were just coming up the steps to the home when they heard shots. "They just started running and the mother didn't make it."
"It just makes me so horrifically sad for everybody for the street, for them, for her, for her grandchildren," says Bryant, who's lived in the neighbourhood for about 20 years.
Bryant is also wary due to what she described as a spate of recent violence in the area, and is considering whether to stay in the neighbourhood.
"It makes me feel vulnerable, makes me wonder if I should move, makes me wonder if I'm safe. Is it random? Who are they trying to get?"
Two men seen running from area
Two young men were seen fleeing the area, northbound, towards Dundas Street East, Hopkinson says.
Police have gathered a significant amount of video surveillance from the area and will be examining it, he added.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477).
An autopsy was scheduled for Sunday, according to police.
