Police ‘busy’ with uptick in Hamilton shootings, but receiving more help from public

Shooting incidents across Hamilton, Ont. are on pace to eclipse what was seen a year ago but police say they’ve also had more residents willing to assist in investigations.

The city is on course for a potential five-year high in shootings and officers in the newly formed Shooting Response Team (SRT), which leads probes into reckless, non-lethal shootings, say they’ve been busy.

As of Tuesday, Hamilton police have handled 29 shootings in just over six months, just five less than the 34 they dealt with in all of 2023.

“Well, things are busy, and it’s unfortunate to have to report that,” Det Sgt. Steve Berezuik revealed.

The Major Guns and Drugs Unit investigator says it’s hard to point to one specific cause for the swell in gunfire but undertones of the city’s drug culture are definitely at play.

“When you have one shooting, there’s a cycle of violence that can evolve from that and one could lead to multiple depending on the people involved,” Berezuik explained. “If they’re retaliating at each other, and often … this year that has been the case.”

Last year, police reallocated frontline resources to battle increasing gun violence, after reported incidents of shots fired rose some 24 per cent in 2022. The city did see a decline in 2023, 11 fewer than the 45 recorded a year previous.

In May, the city’s police chief addressed the spike in gunplay and specifically reached out to the community for help suggesting the public has “a role to play” in “getting out” of the current cycle.

“We have to remind you that we need to do it together with our community. We need to be calling out this action,” Chief Frank Bergen said. “We need (the public) to be able to communicate to the police when we know that people are running around on our streets with guns.”

Berezuik says that public involvement appears to be evident with an uptick in residents proactively assisting in some recent investigations.

Following the city’s latest shooting early Sunday near an apartment complex at Market and Hess Streets, Berezuik said residents uploaded video to contacts provided in a release.

“That shooting … was a great example of that … where people are proactively uploading video without us even asking,” he revealed. “So by the time we get back into the office, we’re already reviewing video … with greater capability to track down the suspects.”

Last week, tips also contributed to the arrest of an armed and dangerous suspect at large connected with two violent incidents, a daytime gunfight on May 13 and an apartment assault on May 30.

The service has made 16 arrests and pressed 133 charges in the 29 incidents this year.

Berezuik says gun-related investigations are “tricky” and do take time, but says the success rate is better and quicker with public cooperation.

“Oftentimes, fear drives people from not wanting to speak to us, but there’s ways we can address that as well,” he said.