Latest shooting of innocent man prompts mayor to seek residents’ help

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Torontonians should make a point of visiting Chinatown East said Mayor David Miller, to show support for the community on Gerrard Street East where late Thursday a 47-year-old grocery store worker, Hau Chang Mao, was killed by a stray bullet.

“The business leaders have asked me to give a message to Torontonians – they’ve asked me to tell Torontonians that their neighbourhood is safe and they want Torontonians to come to their neighbourhood and be there with them,” Miller told reporters at a noon-hour news conference Friday.

Miller had spent the morning in the Gerrard and Broadview business district, just a day after the shooting.

Mao was killed by a stray bullet in what police believe was a shootout at the crowded intersection.
The shooting marks the second time in a week that an innocent bystander was killed by gunfire.

On Saturday, 42-year-old John O’Keefe was shot dead walking passed a strip club in the Yonge-Bloor area of downtown Toronto.

Miller repeated his call for a ban on handguns in Canada, saying the federal government should treat handguns at least as seriously as it treats the threat of terrorism at borders and airports.

“If you think about what happens at the airport, you can’t take a bottle of water with you onto a plane at the airport,” said Miller. “Well, we need to be as stringent about the real threat of guns as opposed to the potential threat – which we do need to take very seriously – of terrorism.”

In the meantime, Miller said Torontonians must not let this shooting make them fearful about the city.

“What people can do is be out in Toronto, showing that the neighbourhoods are theirs,” he said.

“We don’t want to succumb to the fear that’s caused by these thugs. In this case, people should go over to Gerrard East Chinatown. Go over there today. Go have dinner. Go do a bit of shopping. That’s the way to show people in the neighbourhood that you support them.”

Local Ward 30 (Toronto Danforth) Councillor Paula Fletcher was with Miller Friday morning, and said she intends to go back to the neighbourhood through the weekend.

She acknowledged that the shooting has created a real trauma in the community.

“People are gradually coming back onto the streets but people are worried,” she said. “They generally know this is a very safe community, the police statistics show that - but what makes any community vulnerable is the proliferation of handguns in the community.”

Fletcher said there will be a community meeting with police from local 55 Division on Monday, and she said that likely police will hear a call for more foot patrol officers in the neighbourhood.

“We did hear again today that we can use some more foot patrols,” she said. “It does make people feel very safe, it does send out a safety message and it lets people there with guns know that there’s a police presence in the neighbourhood.”