A Victoria woman was almost caught in the crossfire of a gang-related shootout in Toronto that claimed the lives of two other men on June 30, the Toronto Sun reports.
Tonya Gillard was in a streetcar moving along Queen Street West when shots were fired outside of a nightclub.
“We heard shots, and the driver said ‘get down, get down,” she told the Sun. “We all hit the floor.”
Speaking to Victoria Buzz, Gillard said the incident was “scary.”
“Some people were crying and saying they didn’t want to die,” she said. “Most were silent.”
Gillard and the other passengers remained on the floor of the streetcar until police arrived to secure the scene.
The two other victims include twenty-one-year old Jahvante Smart—a known associate of Toronto artist Drake who goes by Smoke Dawg—and 28-year-old Ernest Modekwe, a Toronto-based music producer known as Koba.
RIP My Brothers Smoke Dawg & Koba.. Love You Guys 4 Life.. Rest Easy 💔💔💔💔💔
— MURDA ON THE BEAT (@murdabeatz_) July 1, 2018
The incident occurred just two weeks after another Toronto shooting that almost took the lives of two young girls.
In response to the nightclub shooting, Toronto Mayor John Tory told the Province, “I’m damn mad about this.”
Tory had pushed for tightened bail conditions for those with a history of gun offences prior to the shooting in an attempt to curb the city’s rising gun violence.
As a former Toronto resident, Gillard said the nightclub shooting was disconcerting.
“It’s sad to experience that in my own country,” she said.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article reported that Gillard was hit by a stray bullet and taken to hospital with serious injuries. She was not hit, and only witnessed the shooting from a streetcar. The third victim was unnamed. We regret the error.
