Dozens of family and friends of Peggy Ann Smith joined together at a funeral for the beloved Toronto grandmother who was shot and killed last month.
“She was only 61 years old and she deserved a fuller life,” grandson Jerome Smith said outside of Giffen-Mack Funeral Home and Cremation Centre in east Toronto Saturday.
“She was my angel and I know now she’s going to be looking down on me and I’m just going to continue what she wanted me to do,” he said, adding he wants to make his grandmother proud as he pursues a firefighting career.
Smith was visiting family in the Don Mount Court and Kintyre Avenue area, south-west of Broadview Avenue and Dundas Street East, around 6:15 p.m. on Aug. 27 when 10 shots were fired. Smith and her family ran for cover, but Smith was struck. She died at the scene.
READ MORE: Peggy Ann Smith, grandmother killed in Toronto shooting, remembered as ‘sweet soul’
“We can’t forget how she died and I think that’s the hardest part is that she was murdered. Somebody took her life,” Denise Stewart said.
Stewart, who thought of Smith like a second mother, remembered how Smith took her in when she was younger.
“She didn’t even know me, but she just wanted to make sure that I was safe and okay. This is the kind of person she is,” she said.
“She may have been a small, petite person. But she had the biggest heart out of anybody that we know.”
For family member Desnee Travena, she said she will remember how much Smith loved her grandchildren.
“She was a good woman to me and an awesome grandmother to my nephew, like just a beautiful, beautiful spirit and soul,” Travena said.
Meanwhile, Toronto police continue their investigation into the shooting. During a press conference Tuesday, Det. David Dickinson said Smith was likely an innocent bystander.
“I believe the shooting was targeted, however I do not believe Peggy or her family present at the time were the intended targets,” Dickinson said.
READ MORE: Grandmother killed in east-end Toronto shooting wasn’t intended target: police
Investigators are trying to identify two men who were last seen near Dundas Street East and Hamilton Street after running away from the scene.
Smith’s family and officials continue to call on anyone with information to contact police or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
“She was taken in a senseless act of crime,” Jerome Smith said.
“Someone saw something and you need to speak on it because imagine if it was your grandmother just sitting there and you lost her that day.”