It's really hard to understand'

Man still in disbelief after bullets ripped through dominoes game and killed two of his friends

- JENNIFER PAGLIARO

Left: Jaidyn Parkes with her father, Delroy “George” Parkes, 61, who was killed in a shooting outside an Etobicoke high school June 2. Right: Seymour Gibbs, left, who also died in the shooting, with his son Seymour Jr. and daughter Abby.

It was the second night in a row that Delroy — George to everyone — Parkes was seated in the school parking lot across from his friends at the custom dominoes table they had made.

The space outside North Albion Collegiate Institute in their north Etobicoke community had, for many years, been their place of gathering — “HQ”, for headquarters, they called it.

The weather was good that first weekend of June and they had decided on Saturday night to return on Sunday to hang out and play again. There was “unfinished business” in their dominoes games, the man remembered, laughing. Parkes had handed his duo a couple of “six-loves” he said, beating them handily. They wanted to “square it back up,” he said.

Parkes came to pick him up that Sunday and the man bought his friend a coffee.

After a game of soccer, they unfolded the dominoes table from the trunk. Parkes was seated with his regular partner and his other friend facing off against him. Just before 11 p.m., Parkes had them down 3-0 again. They were getting ready to start a new round.

Then the shooting started. The man remembers the rapid

fire sound, demonstrating for a reporter over the phone this week. It didn’t even last 20 seconds, he said. He didn’t realize at first the shots were aimed at them.