The Area of Waterloo has already matched the whole variety of shootings in all of 2023 – and it’s solely September.
The Waterloo Regional Police Service mentioned they’ve responded to 18 shootings locally this 12 months.
The newest occurred in Cambridge over the weekend. Officers have been referred to as to Elgin Road North and Northview Heights Drive, the place they discovered a 19-year-old man with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his leg.
“We do believe that this is a targeted incident,” Const. Chris Iden mentioned.
An space resident, who didn’t wish to be recognized for their very own security, advised Ontario Chronicle it occurred at a close-by townhome advanced.
“I was in my living room and didn’t see anything, then saw the flashing [police] lights,” they mentioned. “It makes people very apprehensive. Very nervous.”
That is the second capturing within the space throughout the previous 18 months.
In February 2023, police responded to a capturing on the advanced. Nobody was damage however not less than one automobile and the entrance door of a house have been hit with bullets.
Police have but to establish a suspect in both investigation.
“There has been no updates but we do believe [last year’s shooting] is not connected to this incident,” Iden mentioned.
Solely 9 shootings have been reported within the first 9 months of 2023, half of what has already been reported this 12 months.
“It is an alarming trend,” Chris Lewis, the previous Ontario Provincial Police commissioner, mentioned. “Is it here to stay? We don’t know at this point.”
He attributes a lot of the rise to gang exercise.
“A lot of them are young people that seem disenfranchised or, for whatever reason, have turned to that life of crime,” Lewis added.
He feels stronger gun management will end in higher short-term options.
WRPS, in the meantime, mentioned they’re taking the rise in shootings severely.
“This is not something that Waterloo Region is known for,” Iden defined. “When we are having an increase in gun violence it’s absolutely going to be a concern for our community.”
Police say the investigation into Saturday’s capturing is ongoing and there’s no concern to public security.
