Homicide in Oriole Park

[attach]5806[/attach]Police are currently investigating an early morning homicide in Oriole Park.

Around 3 a.m. this morning, police were called to the Yonge Street and Davisville Avenue area park for the sound of gunshots. Upon arrival, police located a man suffering from trauma to the body. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A post-mortem examination has yet to be scheduled, and police have not released the victim’s identity pending notification of next of kin.

Police are continuing to investigate the incident.

This is the 16th homicide in Toronto this year. At this time last year, there had been 21 murders.

The shooting came less than 12 hours after a violent knife attack nearby at 88 Broadway Ave., near Yonge and Eglinton, where a 50-year-old man slashed the neck and back of a 13-year-old girl.

Police say the victim and suspect were talking outside of the building when the man became upset and cut the girl on the base of her neck. The girl ran away, and as she did so was slashed across her back.

A witness then held the man until police arrived. The girl was rushed to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and the man was arrested at the scene. Constable Wendy Drummond said the victim received “quite a few stitches.”

The man, who is not being identified in order to protect the identity of the victim, has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, carrying a concealed weapon and threatening death. He appeared in court this morning.

Police also say there is no relation whatsoever between yesterday’s slashing and the early morning homicide.

It’s also not the first time someone has been shot to death in Oriole Park. Responding to a robbery call on Feb. 16, 2008, police located 28-year-old [url=http://www.mytowncrier.ca/story-12114-1-1.html]Byron Debassige[/url] in the park around 8:30 p.m. Debassige, who suffered from a mental illness, was armed with a knife, and after struggling with police, he was fatally shot by two officers.