TORONTO - The hunt is on for two members of a violent street gang after a wild gun battle at a downtown condo that led to the kidnapping, torture and sexual abuse of two 17-year-old boys.
“This is basically a gang war kidnapping,” Staff-Insp. Mike Earl, who heads up the Holdup Squad, said Thursday. “This is what happens on the streets.”
Toronto Police say the cruel abduction story began early on April 19 when members of the Queens Drive Crips street gang attempted to crash a party hosted by members of the Young Buck Killas in a condo at Front St. and Blue Jays Way that was rented through Airbnb.
YBK members allegedly caught wind of the pending attack and went looking for their rivals but came up empty. They rode an elevator back up to the rented condo, with guns in hand, unaware their enemies lay in wait on the 25th floor.
“Once they get to the top floor and exit the elevator, the members of the Queens Drive Crips gang were waiting for them and there was an exchange of gunfire,” Earl said.
He believes there were as many as a dozen handguns between the two crews involved.
Security camera video, released by police, shows young men scattering as the gunfire erupted. One man is seen cowering in the corner of the elevator while another, who is believed to have had his head grazed by a bullet, drops to the floor as the doors close.
Miraculously, none of the combatants were seriously hurt and cops only learned of the shootout when residents discovered empty shell casings in the hall later that morning.
However, Earl said the more violent twist unfolded after the gang members, their associates and other partygoers cleared out of the condo.
Two teen boys who had been at the party regrouped with their friends at a townhouse in Swansea Mews, near High Park, he said. Once there, YBK members “blamed” the boys for the ambush, accusing them of “tipping off” their rivals about the party.
“So they were kidnapped and tortured and held for ransom,” Earl said.
He said the two youths were tied to a chair and pummelled.
“During their beating, they were forced to play Russian roulette with a loaded handgun,” Earl said, adding the boys were were also “forced to perform sexual acts.”
While the victims were held captive at the townhouse, police responded to calls for a suspicious incident at the complex twice but found nothing out of the ordinary.
Following the police response, the kidnappers moved the boys to other locations in Lawrence Heights.
Earl said the victims’ families later alerted police after being contacted by the abductors with ransom demands.
The boys were released by their captors last Sunday, but only after the ransom was paid by their loved ones, he said, unwilling to elaborate on the amount of cash involved.
Police have since arrested three men and a boy who can’t be named. They also seized a loaded handgun.
Quinton Gardiner, 19, is charged with kidnapping for ransom and firearms offences while Akil Whyte, 23, Deshawn Walters, 18, and a 16-year-old boy face gun charges.
However, the two suspects thought to be most involved in the abduction and torture of the boys remain on the loose.
Police have sought judicial authorization to release a photo of one suspect, Thai-Shay Gordon, who is just 17 years old.
Earl claims the teen, whose nickname is “Pistol,” was the alleged “ringleader” of the kidnapping.
Lincoln Richards, 23, is also wanted for the abduction. He’s known to frequent the areas of Finch and Martingrove, Swansea Mews, Leamington, Ont., and Kingsville, Ont.
“We’re also looking for his family members,” Earl said, adding it’s thought Richards’ grandmother, mother and sister were present in the Swansea Mews home during the beatings.
Two boys kidnapped, forced to play Russian roulette, Toronto police say | Toront
