A 38-year-old man was sent to hospital with a gunshot wound and a suspect is on the run following another daytime shooting in Hamilton.
Investigators say officers were dispatched just after 7:30 a.m. following a 911 call in which a man reported he’d been shot on Juanita Drive at Mohawk Road West.
Det. Sgt. Steve Bereziuk said a 17-year-old boy was arrested after a pair of suspects wearing masks tried to flee the scene on foot.
It’s believed they ran after discarding a stolen black SUV.
“We recovered a firearm as a result of that arrest,” Bereziuk revealed.
Hamilton police told residents on social media around 10 a.m. to stay away from Chedoke Radial Trail between the golf course and Scenic Drive amid emergency response teams and a K9 unit looking for a suspect on the run.
Bereziuk said officers were in pursuit of an armed and dangerous male wearing a gray hoodie, dark blue pants and a blue surgical mask.
The victim is in hospital in stable condition with non-life threatening injuries, according to police.
A stretch of Juanita between Mohawk and Darlington Drive will be closed off for most of Thursday, according to Bereziuk.
“So far the neighbourhood has been terrific. They’re co-operating,” Bereziuk said.
“We’re going to continue to canvass the area, which is what we’re doing right now, for video and or witnesses.”
The 17-year-old is facing seven charges tied to possession of an unauthorized firearm, breach of probation and theft over $5,000.
Investigators called off the search for the remaining suspect just after 1 p.m. He remains outstanding.
The shooting is another amid a recent spike that has put the city on course for a 10-year high in those incidents, according to Hamilton police.
It comes just days after a brazen morning shootout in Hamilton’s downtown last week, which saw a car and an apartment building hit by gunfire on Market Street.
Suspects, who fled on foot, are still being sought in that occurence.
Bereziuk stopped short of relating Thursday’s shooting with a possible “turf war” across the city investigators have speculated on in recent months.
“I mentioned the smell of a turf war before that was more independent I think of the Market Street shooting that occurred, last Friday,” Bereziuk said.
“This incident here, again, I don’t know if it’s going to be related to any of these other previous shootings. It’s always something we’re looking at.”
In mid-May, police Chief Frank Bergen characterized the recent spate of brazen daytime gunfights in Hamilton as “alarming” and “not acceptable.”
Hamilton police Supt. Marty Schulenberg admitted the recent rise in shootings is complex since illicit activities, like drug crimes, tend to drive aggressive behaviours.
“There is an element of the gangster lifestyle and retaliatory shootings that come with that turf war,” Schulenberg explained.
“The proliferation of the availability of handguns … all of these things work together. Then we also have to consider our bail system, who’s in, who’s out, what that looks like.”
The city is at 27 shootings for 2024, a marked increase year over year compared with January through May last year, in which only 10 were reported.
More to come.
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