Canada - Three people stabbed in apparent random attack near Maple Leaf Gardens.

dotr

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2009
Messages
51,292
Reaction score
142,604
http://www.cp24.com/mobile/news/thr...ndom-attack-near-maple-leaf-gardens-1.2204794

" Three people were rushed to hospital with stab wounds after a male suspect “started attacking people at random” in the vicinity of Maple Leaf Gardens early Sunday morning, police say.

According to Det. Phil Hibbeln, the attacks took place at around 8:30 a.m. on Carlton Street.

In the first incident, the suspect attacked two people outside the doors to the Mattamy Athletic Centre at Maple Leaf Gardens, prompting one of them to seek shelter inside the arena."
 
" A fourth person was attacked, but did not require hospitalization.

Det. Phil Hibbeln, of Toronto police, said a man in his 50s was arrested near the intersection of College and Yonge Streets after he started attacking people with a knife at about 8:30 a.m."

Read more: http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/3-people-...ar-maple-leaf-gardens-1.2204824#ixzz3PryNOSSI

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2...-church-and-carlton-in-serious-condition.html

"4 attacked in stabbing near Church and Carlton, 3 in serious condition"
 
This hit close to home as I walk by Maple Leaf Gardens almost every day :( Initially I thought that this may have been a Jihad attack but I see from the latest reports that the suspect is in his 60's and has an Irish surname so it doesn't look to be ISIS related
 
Glad everyone is more or less ok, never mind the possible scars both mental and physical, after this guy allegedly attacked SIX people!


http://www.citynews.ca/2015/01/26/man-charged-with-attempted-murder-after-downtown-stabbing-rampage/
"The man attacked six people, stabbing four, around 8:30 a.m. in the area of Church and Carlton streets.

All four victims, ranging in age from 18 to 48 years-old, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Police say the man was spotted in the area carrying a knife before he started lashing out at passers-by.

An 18-year-old man was stabbed in the stomach, then the suspect started yelling at a 45-year-old man who was jogging by before stabbing him above the kidneys.

The man then stabbed a 19-year-old woman in the ribs, tried to stab two others who escaped, then stabbed a 28-year-old woman in the chest."


http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...-premier-bill-davis-s-house-in-1987-1.2931993

"Man accused of random stabbings broke into former premier Bill Davis's house in 1987
Shawn O'Neill charged in 1987 when he broke into home brandishing knife"
 
The long trail that led to charges in a downtown stabbing rampage

Shawn O’Neill, charged with attacking four people on Church St. in January, had recently been discharged from psychiatric care. Did the system let him and the victims down?

Nineteen years earlier and six blocks south, there had been another knife incident.

On June 13, 1996, O’Neill was walking on Queen St. W. near the Eaton Centre when a pedestrian passing in the opposite direction accidentally bumped into him. O’Neill stopped, turned and pulled out a knife with a four-inch blade.

“What the f--- are you doing?” he shouted. “Try that again, I got something for you.”

The man ran away. O’Neill, then 42, was arrested on charges of assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon. After he underwent psychiatric tests, a judge found him not criminally responsible, or NCR, a verdict that rendered him legally blameless. Instead of receiving jail time, O’Neill was detained in a psychiatric hospital. He would remain in the system for 17 years — far longer than he would have been incarcerated for a guilty verdict on the same charges.

The panel delivered its verdict on Nov. 21, 2013: “While the evidence called by the hospital and the submissions made on behalf of the Attorney General are reasonable, a majority of the board are unable to conclude that the accused represents a significant threat to public safety.”



Acting for O’Neill, Toronto lawyer Anita Szigeti argued he was entitled to an absolute discharge.

She pointed out that he had not been charged with a crime in 17 years. He had not experienced an episode of psychosis in 10 years. He had lived in community housing for a decade under CAMH supervision. He had been taking his medication. Even when he had slipped and reverted to substance abuse, he had not been violent. She said O’Neill was willing to continue treatment even after discharge.

After release:

92% of Ontario Review Board decisions side with hospital recommendations
1% of people found not criminally responsible (NCR) who are given an absolute discharge reoffended in a seriously violent manner in the three years after release
22% of NCRs given an absolute discharge committed some type of offence in the three years after release
 
How one man’s tortured path led to a stabbing rampage in downtown Toronto

Police later called it “a rampage.” None of the victims died or were grievously injured, and last week, a Superior Court judge ruled that 62-year-old O’Neill is “not criminally responsible on account of mental illness” (NCR), for the quadruple stabbing on Jan. 25, 2015.

After the board granted O’Neill’s absolute discharge in January 2014 — a move opposed by his family and doctors at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health — he no longer had to visit the hospital every day. And no one could force him to take medicine.

O’Neill’s sister, Maureen, said she’s always believed her brother is better off in treatment. Before his first NCR decree, his life was a rolling litany of crime and short-term hospitalization. He was relatively stable in treatment, she said.

Now, after the shock and the remorse of the 2015 stabbings, she’s relieved to think of him back in the system, even if that’s the case for the rest of his life.

“That’s what he needs. He needed that management because he was never capable of managing his disease on his own,” she said.

More at the link. Lots to read and think about. Difficult questions - when do we take away someone's liberty based on what someone else thinks that person might do?
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
66
Guests online
864
Total visitors
930

Forum statistics

Threads
589,923
Messages
17,927,715
Members
228,002
Latest member
zipperoni
Back
Top