Family mourns innocent bystander
Smith was with a daughter, Lisa, and two grandchildren outside Lisa’s townhouse in an east-end laneway on Don Mount Court near Dundas and Broadview when shots erupted. Smith, her daughter and both grandchildren, a girl, 11, and a seven-year-old boy, literally began running for their lives.
When the shots ended, Lisa, who’d placed the children inside, went back to where they’d been when the shots began, expecting, hoping, to find her mother. She did, but Peggy was dead. At first Lisa thought she’d fallen and hit her head and was alive but her mother had been shot.
Lisa’s sister, Loretta, was not there when shots were fired but arrived moments later. Loretta heard the shots and ran from her nearby townhouse to make certain the children were okay. She spoke with Toronto Sun reporter Chris Doucette.
“My sister said, ‘Run, mom!’” Loretta told Doucette. “She thought (our mom) was right behind her and then she realized that mom didn’t make it. They came out after they stopped hearing the gunshots and saw my mom laying there.”
Suspects’ description
The video footage shows two men in gray hoodies and dark pants walking down a laneway and later running back. They are described as: one man is black, about 5’11” and skinny and is 19 or in his early 20s and may be of Somalian descent; the other is described as brown skinned and 5’6″ and in his early 20s; he had a beard.
Police say the two suspects would have run back out onto Dundas St. The footage is from about 6 p.m. on Saturday and Detective Dave Dickinon believes there will be witnesses who can help.
“I need the public’s assistance in tracking the two suspects,” he said. “Dundas Street would have been very busy with vehicular and pedestrian traffic at this time and I need to hear from anyone who saw the two men running in the area.”
Det. Dickinon said there were a number of young males in the laneway when the shots rang out and that some have spoken to police but others have not. He’s asking any of those there who have not contacted police to do so.
Vigil for victim
A vigil was held for Peggy on Monday night and the neighborhood, which has a safety committee due to frequent crime in the area, turned out in large numbers, with over 100 in attendance. It was the third shooting in the area since April; the other two did not result in a death.
Family and friends spoke of Smith’s kindness and how she loved her 13 grandchildren. Her oldest grandson, Jerome Smith, spoke to the audience, telling them of how just last week at his pre-service firefighting graduation he saw his grandmother cry tears of joy. He said that later she took him around the community, telling people of his accomplishment.
Smith’s daughter Loretta said her mother will always be missed. “We’re a very close, loving family,” she said. “Everybody loved her. She was just a very caring, loving person who didn’t deserve to die like this.”
