I was driving the five minutes home from dropping off a friend as I saw several police cars zoom by westbound in front of me—we’re just one street away from the Danforth. I was woefully unaware of what was happening only five minutes away. Unaware, that is until the messages started pouring in.
“Please tell me you don’t live here!”
“Are you okay???”
“This happened just five minutes from us!”
When we think of violence in Toronto, Greektown—the bustling stretch of the Danforth known for its family-friendly nightlife and generational communities—is not what comes to mind.
Though we can say the same for an angry young man running pedestrians down in a van in North York or a gunfight breaking out in the city’s busiest mall. Sadly, Toronto’s no stranger to violence—it’s just rare that it hits so close to home.
But let me explain to anyone who doesn’t live here why this is so surprising.