Victim decries 'senseless' violence

Community vigil held at high school where two men were shot Sunday

- EMILY FAGAN

Mayor Olivia Chow and community leaders walk with Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw in the Rexdale area Thursday. Sunday's shooting killed two men, including Seymour Gibbs, 46, who succumbed to his injuries Thursday, and Delroy "George" Parkes, 61.

When the gunfire broke out on Sunday evening, Baldwin Thomas was standing over his friends, watching them play dominoes. The first bullet hit him in the head, three more striking his back as he turned to flee.

“I thought it was firecrackers coming across here,” said Baldwin, 56, of the spray of what police say was about 50 bullets.

The gunfire took the lives of two of his friends, Seymour Gibbs, 46, who succumbed to his injuries Thursday, and Delroy “George” Parkes, 61, who died in hospital after the shooting.

Thursday evening, Thomas returned to the parking lot behind the Etobicoke high school where the shooting took place — a spot they’d been coming to for soccer games, barbecues and community gatherings for more than 35 years — to join in a community vigil and speak out against the “senseless” violence.

Six stitches hold together the wound on Thomas’s head where one of the bullets struck him. Two of his other friends were also injured in the shooting, and police say one is still in the hospital.

“The doctor said I’m a miracle man,” he said. “I’m giving thanks I’m here.”