14-year-old boy arrested for shooting in which two Jamaican men were killed

Denton Thomas, 59, a survivor of the mass shooting that claimed the lives of two Jamaican men in a school parking lot in Toronto on June 2, says the arrest of a suspect in the case is bittersweet.

On Monday, Toronto Police Service announced that a 14-year-old boy has been arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder.

“When I heard it was a 14-year-old, I said, oh, my Lord, a 14-year-old took the lives of two great men. It's tough, but at the same time you want to make sure that he's punished somehow. He has to face the consequences of the law,” said Thomas while acknowledging that this is a child that needs guidance.

Thomas was among a group of men playing dominoes after a football game in a parking lot at North Albion Collegiate Institute in Etobicoke when a dark pickup truck drove up and two suspects allegedly got out and began shooting at the group before fleeing in the vehicle.

Officers arrived on the scene and located five victims suffering from gunshot wounds, four other people present in the parking lot were not injured.

The five were transported to hospital where Delroy 'George' Parkes, 61, of Vaughan, was pronounced dead. On June 5, Seymour Gibbs, 46, of Toronto, succumbed to his injuries.

“I'm doing good today,” said Thomas who has a bullet lodged in his thigh and was told by his doctor that it would be detrimental to remove it. He will have to live with it there for the rest of his life.

Thomas had just come in from a doctor's appointment at St Michael's Hospital when he spoke to The Gleaner on Tuesday.

“I'm living with the knowledge that one of these shots in me and many shots killed my friends. Even though I try to be as hard and tough as possible, there are times when you say, man, this is not real and then you feel it emotionally and psychologically.”

He said his two other friends who were also shot are doing well but they still live with the trauma.

Thomas said Sunday, June 2, was just a regular day and the men were doing what they have done for the past 30 years - playing football, chitchatting, playing dominoes, and enjoying their friendship.

The group is made up of men from Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines, but most are from Jamaica. It was a rainy day so only nine of them stayed around that night after football.

Remembering Parkes and Gibbs, Thomas said: “Delroy was such a humble and kind hearted person. I remembered vividly that night he went to his truck, and he gave us some almonds because he was a health-conscious guy. Any events we're having, Seymour was the cook, he was loving and kind. Both were peacekeepers.”

He believes youth, like the boy arrested, need counselling and he would like to see the community and government work in partnership to mentor them.

Thomas said many youths have passed through their football group's mentorship programme and are doing well.

“We show them love, show them kindness, to stay out of trouble always. And then to see this happen now in front of our eyes to us knowing that we're not on that path of wrongdoing is very sad,” he said, noting that his group is there to have fun and for the betterment of the community.

A news release from the police notes that in the early morning hours of June 3 officers became involved in a stolen vehicle investigation in the same area of the shooting.

The driver of a stolen truck collided with an empty, parked vehicle and attempted to flee but was arrested by officers after a short foot pursuit. Through investigation it was determined that the youth was one of the suspects involved in the shooting.

- Neil Armstrong

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