A refurbished playground was unveiled Thursday at the site of a 2018 shooting in Toronto that left two girls, who were five and nine at the time, seriously injured.
Members of the Toronto Police Service, Toronto Crime Stoppers, and the BOLO program were in attendance to unveil the structure.
“Unfortunately there’s not much we can do to erase what happened here in June 2018, but here’s what we can try to do: bury that sadness with happiness and this is exactly what we’re trying to do here today,” said Maxime Langlois, director of the BOLO program, which works to assist police in apprehending some of Canada’s most wanted criminals.
“We’re trying to bring happiness to the children of this community.”
It was on June 14, 2018, when police and paramedics were called to a residential complex near Alton Towers Circle in the McCowan Road and Steeles Avenue East area at around 5 p.m. after a gunfight occurred between two men. The two girls were shot and required surgery.
Three suspects were later charged in connection with the shooting.
Toronto Crime Stoppers chair Sean Sportun said the playground was created as a result of a new community reward program by Crime Stoppers.
“Simply put instead of rewarding an individual tipster, we are now rewarding an entire community,” Sportun said.
“Our efforts are geared towards opportunities that support crime prevention through community engagement or community improvement initiatives that work to enhance community safety and empower movement of a crime-free Toronto.”
Youth in the community were also given an “Alton Towers superhero” sweater and served a pizza lunch after the unveiling.
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