A chilling incident Monday night at a William Whyte-area playground that left one 13-year-old girl in hospital with multiple stab wounds and another in custody has members of that community concerned about children’s safety.
Police said the suspect approached two other girls, 12 and 13, and “viciously” attacked and robbed them before fleeing the area.
She was later arrested and charged with aggravated assault, two counts of robbery, uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, and assaulting a peace officer.
The William Whyte Neighborhood Association’s Darrell Warren told 680 CJOB’s The Start that he’s unfortunately no longer surprised to hear about these types of incidents.
“A lot of people go ahead and look at it like, ‘Well, it’s the North End, it’s to be expected.’ But it’s not to be expected anywhere. It’s unacceptable,” he said.
“We definitely need to change things. It’s been going like this for a very long time and it’s getting out of control.”
Warren said the location of Monday’s stabbing is popular in the community and should be considered a “safe haven” — a playground near a day-care centre, community gardens, and lots of activity.
He said despite numerous programs in place to provide neighbourhood kids with positive opportunities for recreation, some young people aren’t buying in.
“There’s a lot of organizations out there doing good work … but we’ve got to connect with these kids and let them know there are consequences. Fortunately, with these kids (Monday night), none of them died. But there are serious consequences.
“We have a park at our location where our building is and I’m finding a lot of people don’t come to the park because they don’t feel safe there, and that’s unfortunate.
“They should feel safe there. It should be a safe place to come and swing and play on the monkey bars.”