One Million Guns

After a mass shooting on a downtown Toronto street, a former cop became one of the loudest voices calling for gun control. He’s up against entrenched lobbyists, slow-to-act politicians and a surge in firearm owners.

- Patrick White AND Tom Cardoso

By the end of 2017, Canadians had registered 943,785 handguns. Every month, that number grows by tens of thousands.

After 32 years as a constable for the Toronto Police Service, Patrick McLeod was ready for a less stressful life. No more facing down criminals. No more psychological armour. Now that he was officially retired, he and his wife, Jane, decided to book a long, celebratory European vacation for later that summer.

Then everything changed.

Around 10 p.m. on July 22, 2018, while the McLeods were watching television, their daughter called in a panic.

Skye McLeod, who had graduated from high school a month earlier, had headed downtown to celebrate a friend’s 18th birthday. On their way home, a group of eight close friends— including Reese Fallon, who grew up directly across the street from the McLeods—had stopped for ice cream on Toronto’s bustling Danforth Ave., then wandered over to the Alexander the Great Parkette.

McLeod couldn’t make out what Skye was saying on the phone.

“What? What? Slow down. I can’t understand you,” he said.

“Someone’s trying to kill us,” his daughter replied.

Skye painted a desperate scene: she and five others had locked themselves in the downstairs bathroom of a restaurant after someone had opened fire on them.

“Keep the door locked,” her dad told her. “I’m on the way.”

McLeod kept Skye on the line as he and Jane grabbed the keys to their Honda minivan. As they pulled out of the driveway for the 10-minute trip, Jane called the Fallons to tell them they’d better hurry over to the Danforth.