Teen girl shot in Toronto
A call came in at 10:30 a.m. ET yesterday that a girl in a housing complex in the Rexdale area had been shot once with a gun. When police and paramedics arrived she was said to be unresponsive and not breathing. Paramedics conducted CPR and rushed her to the trauma unit of a nearby hospital.
It is unclear when the girl, who sources have identified as Lecent Ross, died, but police did not announce her death until about 2:30 p.m. Her passing was announced on Twitter. It is being described by police as a preventable and a “suspicious” death. The housing complex has been the scene of gun violence in the past.
Police have the gun and said that it is a .40 calibre Smith and Wesson that is not legally registered. They are trying to find out who the owner of the gun is and are not ruling out the possibility that the gun owner could be charged with an offence, even if the shooting was accidental.
Det. Rich Petrie told an afternoon news conference Thursday that the gun that killed the teenager was an “illegal, prohibited, semi-automatic handgun.”
“People knew about this gun, it didn’t just show up. It came from somewhere,” Det. Petrie said. “Somebody knew about it, somebody could have called Crime Stoppers. Somebody was aware of that gun and they chose to turn a blind eye, and this is where we are.”
Death by misadventure
While it is now being called a possible “death by misadventure” the Toronto Sun reports that a police source told them they shall leave “no stone will be left unturned” in their investigation into the girl’s death.
Police have conducted a door to door canvas of homes in the area seeking information. The death occurred inside at a home on Jamestown Crescent near Finch Avenue West. Police said the bullet hit the girl in the “upper body.”
The girl’s grieving mother, Alicia Jasquith, and other relatives spoke to media Friday, visibly shaken and lamenting their loved ones senseless death. Her uncle, Troy Ross, who boxed for Canada at two Olympic Games, said his niece was a “beautiful person” who would “light up a room.” Ross also said something had to be done about guns in the community to prevent such tragedies.
Her mother said she cannot come to grips with her daughter’s death. “She didn’t deserve this,” she said. “She was a straight A student with dreams of becoming a lawyer.
“I lost her too soon.”
