Police search for evidence in Toronto bus stop shootings in Stoney Creek, Ont. ravine
Toronto police searched a ravine in Stoney Creek, Ont., for more than five hours on Friday as part of an investigation into two separate shootings last week near a bus stop in North York.
Police said investigators canvassed the ravine near the Valley Park Community Centre for evidence.
Officers searched on foot with metal detectors, by drone and with a watercraft. Police declined to say what they were looking for, but a black Acura RDX believed to be involved in the weekend shootings in Toronto was found abandoned in Hamilton.
Police would not say if a gun was found.
The shootings which took place last Friday and Saturday killed a 39-year-old man and left a 16-year-old boy with "significant" injuries.
Police previously said the two victims who were shot near a north Toronto bus stop, in the area of Jane Street and Driftwood Avenue last week, were hit "indiscriminately" while going about their day.
The first incident took place around 6 p.m. Friday when a 16-year-old boy was waiting for the bus alone before he was shot in the face. He was rushed to hospital with life-altering injuries, police said.
Toronto police identified Adu Boakye, 39, as the victim of a shooting that happened near a north Toronto bus stop over the weekend. (Toronto Police Service handout)
Less than 24 hours later, 39-year-old Adu Boakye was walking by the same bus shelter when he was fatally shot Saturday afternoon.
Boakye was "innocently going about his business," Det. Sgt. Phillip Campbell previously said at a Tuesday news conference.
Concerns about increased police presence
Although no arrests have been made, police say they are looking for a male around 18 to 25 years old, with a thin build.
Officers have since ramped up their presence in the area of the incident as a result of the shootings and have set up a command post that will be in place for at least a week.
Jane and Finch Action Against Poverty, a local organization, said in a news release that it has a problem with police using the shootings to justify a greater presence in the area.
"We've already had a huge police presence. Our experience has shown that the solution to shootings is not to add more cops on our streets; they've done this for decades in Jane-Finch and it has not worked and will never work," the organization says in the release.
Toronto police say they're looking for a Black man somewhere between 18 to 25 years old in connection to two bus stop shootings that happened over the weekend. (Toronto Police Service handout)
"We need a long lasting sense of safety through collective care and major structural and systemic improvements in all aspects of our community."
Police, for their part, said the command post is not the only step it is taking in the area. Officers in the area have and will continue to prioritize building relationships and making connections with residents, they say.
Community group looks to support family
Meanwhile, an online fundraiser has surpassed $20,000, looking to provide support to Boakye's family back in Ghana.
Emmanuel Duodu, president of the Ghanian-Canadian Association of Ontario, said the group wants to support the family in whatever ways it can.
"It doesn't matter how much we raise. It's not going to bring him back. But at least this is a token of support that can go a long way to support these surviving families," he said.
A community vigil is being held on Saturday at 1 p.m. near the bus stop where Boakye was killed.