Another Shooting in Toronto-What a Dump That Place Is
- Thread starter bill barilko
- Start date
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...turning-to-the-danforth-to-decry-gun-violence
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...express-pain-caused-by-danforth-mass-shooting
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...h-mass-shooting-probe-but-remain-tight-lipped
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...shooting-victim-recalls-worst-day-of-his-life
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...express-pain-caused-by-danforth-mass-shooting
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...h-mass-shooting-probe-but-remain-tight-lipped
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...shooting-victim-recalls-worst-day-of-his-life
Who in their right mind would enter one of the 10 biggest concrete jungles on the continent?
WARMINGTON: Extensive Toronto Police report on Danforth shooting spree leaves many unanswered questions
Joe Warmington
Published:
June 21, 2019
Updated:
June 21, 2019 11:46 PM EDT
Sorry Julianna Kozis and Reese Fallon, they just don’t know why you were murdered by Faisal Hussain on the Danforth on July 22, 2018.
“The one question the family and the public wanted to know is: Why?” Chief Mark Saunders said Friday. “Although we collected all of the evidence that was available to us for this crime, a crime where the shooter died at the scene, we may never know the answer to why.”
To add even more insult to injury, Saunders said there’s “no evidence Hussain was affiliated with radical ideologies, hate groups or terrorist organizations,” but he did have a “mental health history.”
Yet for a guy who police say had no ties and no help, the 29-year-old sure had a lot of firepower and shooting skill to pull off one of the worst shooting sprees in Canadian history.
Julianna Kozis, 10, (left) and Reese Fallon, 18, whose images are seen here at a memorial on the Danforth, were killed and 13 others wounded when a gunman went on a shooting rampage in Greektown on Sunday, July 22, 2018. (Chris Doucette/Toronto Sun)
We have heard what they don’t know, but here’s what they do:
— Two dead girls, aged 10 and 18, gunned down on Danforth Ave. while out for ice cream and a birthday party.
— Thirteen wounded by gunfire including several with life-altering injuries.
— One .40-calibre Smith & Wesson M&P handgun.
— Seven magazines with 12 to 15 rounds per clip.
— Six computer devices (cellphones or iPads).
— Numerous online audio files and images in English, Urdu and Arabic, which include a search for a story on alleged van killer Alek Minassian and audio clips referencing the Columbine High School shooting, Nazis, the 911 attacks and what appears to be Hussain recorded in the Joker’s voice, saying lines that “involve discussions of death and plans for killing large groups of people.”
— Several unexplained phone text conversations with “someone using an alias” in which the discussion was “regarding retrieval of 20-30 something from him to which the alias replied he would link him on the 24th and get more at the end of the month.”
— Two days before the carnage Hussain was arrested but not charged “after he attempted to steal ice cream.”
— Many incidents with schools and police on issues concerning self-harm and threats of suicide.
— One AK-47 magazine loaded with bullets, Glock, Ruger and Winchester magazine rounds, hundreds of loose rounds of ammunition, one bag of heroin and one bag of MDMA.
— One brother in a coma who was previously released on bail after being convicted of dealing crack was asked to stay at his surety’s house where 33 firearms and 42 kg of deadly carfentanil were found.
— One trip to Pakistan.
Unsealed police documents reveal wealth of info on Danforth shooter Faisal Hussain
WARMINGTON: Was Danforth attack terror, or terrorism?
DANFORTH KILLER: Twisted trail that led to deadly rampage
Homicide detective Terry Browne said they were unable to establish anything from any foreign travel trips that helped the probe.
Police are also not able to determine how Hussain came into possession of the murder weapon or establish any contacts between him and his brother and his surety.
Even July 22 “was no different than any other day” and there was “nothing to indicate he was in crisis on that day” and “nothing that we have learned that any one could have foreseen” what later happened, Browne said.
But there was one act of compassion during this shooting rampage, and that was toward a restaurateur named Jaspal Singh who told the Sun in the days following the shooting Hussain said, “Don’t worry, I am not going to shoot you” and to “stay out of (his) way.”
Police say they have no understanding of why, with so much other blood and carnage, Hussain decided to spare this man’s life.
“The only person who knows why he did what he did is no longer with us,” Browne said.
D/Sgt. Terry Browne, Toronto Police Homicide Squad during a press conference with updates on their investigation into the Danforth shooting on Friday, June 21, 2019. (Veronica Henri/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network)
Added Saunders: “It’s very clear mental health played a critical role.”
Seems for many years there were so many red flags, right up until the arrest two days before the slaughter.
Police so far have been left stumped by this troubled person.
That said, as a city we owe the slain and wounded a more complete result than what this probe has rendered thus far.
Browne said the investigation isn’t over and if there is new information, they will pursue it.
Faisal Hussain, 29, fires a gun on the Danforth late Sunday, July 22, 2018. (Video screengrab)
This may have been the only satisfying announcement to come out of this news conference, which not only didn’t provide the media anything new to report to the public but was mostly details that reporters had dug out and told the community about in the first place.
The areas that need more digging into include the trip to Pakistan with his father and how Hussain came into possession of the murder weapon as well as the narcotics and ammunition stashed in his apartment.
If you have information, please tell police so they can keep working to determine what triggered Hussain to head to the Danforth that July day and steal the lives of two girls who were just having a fun summer night.
Keeping this file open until we have some answers is the least we can do for them.
jwarmington@postmedia.com
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...ooting-spree-leaves-many-unanswered-questions
Joe Warmington
Published:
June 21, 2019
Updated:
June 21, 2019 11:46 PM EDT
Sorry Julianna Kozis and Reese Fallon, they just don’t know why you were murdered by Faisal Hussain on the Danforth on July 22, 2018.
“The one question the family and the public wanted to know is: Why?” Chief Mark Saunders said Friday. “Although we collected all of the evidence that was available to us for this crime, a crime where the shooter died at the scene, we may never know the answer to why.”
To add even more insult to injury, Saunders said there’s “no evidence Hussain was affiliated with radical ideologies, hate groups or terrorist organizations,” but he did have a “mental health history.”
Yet for a guy who police say had no ties and no help, the 29-year-old sure had a lot of firepower and shooting skill to pull off one of the worst shooting sprees in Canadian history.
Julianna Kozis, 10, (left) and Reese Fallon, 18, whose images are seen here at a memorial on the Danforth, were killed and 13 others wounded when a gunman went on a shooting rampage in Greektown on Sunday, July 22, 2018. (Chris Doucette/Toronto Sun)
We have heard what they don’t know, but here’s what they do:
— Two dead girls, aged 10 and 18, gunned down on Danforth Ave. while out for ice cream and a birthday party.
— Thirteen wounded by gunfire including several with life-altering injuries.
— One .40-calibre Smith & Wesson M&P handgun.
— Seven magazines with 12 to 15 rounds per clip.
— Six computer devices (cellphones or iPads).
— Numerous online audio files and images in English, Urdu and Arabic, which include a search for a story on alleged van killer Alek Minassian and audio clips referencing the Columbine High School shooting, Nazis, the 911 attacks and what appears to be Hussain recorded in the Joker’s voice, saying lines that “involve discussions of death and plans for killing large groups of people.”
— Several unexplained phone text conversations with “someone using an alias” in which the discussion was “regarding retrieval of 20-30 something from him to which the alias replied he would link him on the 24th and get more at the end of the month.”
— Two days before the carnage Hussain was arrested but not charged “after he attempted to steal ice cream.”
— Many incidents with schools and police on issues concerning self-harm and threats of suicide.
— One AK-47 magazine loaded with bullets, Glock, Ruger and Winchester magazine rounds, hundreds of loose rounds of ammunition, one bag of heroin and one bag of MDMA.
— One brother in a coma who was previously released on bail after being convicted of dealing crack was asked to stay at his surety’s house where 33 firearms and 42 kg of deadly carfentanil were found.
— One trip to Pakistan.
Unsealed police documents reveal wealth of info on Danforth shooter Faisal Hussain
WARMINGTON: Was Danforth attack terror, or terrorism?
DANFORTH KILLER: Twisted trail that led to deadly rampage
Homicide detective Terry Browne said they were unable to establish anything from any foreign travel trips that helped the probe.
Police are also not able to determine how Hussain came into possession of the murder weapon or establish any contacts between him and his brother and his surety.
Even July 22 “was no different than any other day” and there was “nothing to indicate he was in crisis on that day” and “nothing that we have learned that any one could have foreseen” what later happened, Browne said.
But there was one act of compassion during this shooting rampage, and that was toward a restaurateur named Jaspal Singh who told the Sun in the days following the shooting Hussain said, “Don’t worry, I am not going to shoot you” and to “stay out of (his) way.”
Police say they have no understanding of why, with so much other blood and carnage, Hussain decided to spare this man’s life.
“The only person who knows why he did what he did is no longer with us,” Browne said.
D/Sgt. Terry Browne, Toronto Police Homicide Squad during a press conference with updates on their investigation into the Danforth shooting on Friday, June 21, 2019. (Veronica Henri/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network)
Added Saunders: “It’s very clear mental health played a critical role.”
Seems for many years there were so many red flags, right up until the arrest two days before the slaughter.
Police so far have been left stumped by this troubled person.
That said, as a city we owe the slain and wounded a more complete result than what this probe has rendered thus far.
Browne said the investigation isn’t over and if there is new information, they will pursue it.
Faisal Hussain, 29, fires a gun on the Danforth late Sunday, July 22, 2018. (Video screengrab)
This may have been the only satisfying announcement to come out of this news conference, which not only didn’t provide the media anything new to report to the public but was mostly details that reporters had dug out and told the community about in the first place.
The areas that need more digging into include the trip to Pakistan with his father and how Hussain came into possession of the murder weapon as well as the narcotics and ammunition stashed in his apartment.
If you have information, please tell police so they can keep working to determine what triggered Hussain to head to the Danforth that July day and steal the lives of two girls who were just having a fun summer night.
Keeping this file open until we have some answers is the least we can do for them.
jwarmington@postmedia.com
What are you up to to make you so afraid of the government? You into something seditious? Illegal? Treason? Un-Canadian?
WARMINGTON: Danforth killer told 'find a wife' prior to shooting spree
Joe Warmington
Published:
June 22, 2019
Updated:
June 22, 2019 8:12 PM EDT
Faisal Hussain. (Supplied by family)
The reason may be a mystery but one fact that is undeniable is just an hour after being told to find a wife, Faisal Hussain shot two girls to death and wounded 13 others on The Danforth.
Now, while Toronto Police say they don’t know the motive for the deadly shooting spree that unfolded around 10 p.m. on July 22, 2018, they do know that at 9 p.m. the 29-year-old was talking to his twin brother on the balcony of their parents’ Thorncliffe Park Drive apartment.
“Family reported having a conversation with Faisal Hussain about his future and that he should find a wife,” Toronto Police said in their report on the Danforth shooting released Friday.
Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders during a press conference with updates on their investigation into the Danforth shooting on Friday, June 21, 2019. (Veronica Henri/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network)
The Sun has previously reported after Hussain said he was “mentally retarded” while smoking a cigarette” his brother urged him “to get his life together, get married and get some direction.”
Toronto Police now say “the family believe this conversation upset Faisal Hussain.”
Just 60 minutes later Julianna Kozis, 10, and Reese Fallon, 18, were repeatedly shot — along with 13 others who survived. That list of others struck by Hussain’s .40 calibre Smith and Wesson with seven magazines and at least ten bullets per clip were Danielle Kane; Julianna’s father Donny Kozis; Fallon’s friends, Samantha Price, Miranda Li and Ali Demrican; a mother and son named Joanne and Jon; and a waiter named Nick.
Reese Fallon, 18, (left) and Julianna Kozis, 10.
Police have told the families they don’t have a motive. But standing out in the report are the names of two men allegedly involved in misogynistic attacks that helped fuel and publicize the involuntary celibate phenomenon known as Incel.
Toronto Police state “there was a 4 second audio file of a male voice saying “Elliot Rodger golf course” and an internet search for Rodger’s infamous video manifesto thathe recorded before murdering six friends — three of whom were girls.
Hussain also conducted a search for a story about Toronto van attack suspect Alek Minassian who is before the courts for alledgedly murdering 10 and wounding 16 others exactly four months previous on March 22.
Before the Yonge St. attack, Minassian allegedly took to social media and announced: “The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!”
It was later understood Stacys are women who reject men while Chads are admired males who have regular sex with females.
Police are seen near a damaged van in Toronto after a van mounted a sidewalk crashing into a number of pedestrians on Monday, April 23, 2018. The victims of a deadly van attack in northern Toronto have a wider range of options for recourse to deal with the fallout because it involved a motor vehicle under the province’s insurance system, lawyers say. Aaron Vincent Elkaim / THE CANADIAN PRESS
But as Chief Mark Saunders and Det. Sgt. Terry Browne caution, no single posting nails down a motive. Hussain had many bizarre digital files, including those talking about terror, conspiracies and the holocaust by the Nazis.
Saunders said there is “no evidence Hussain was affiliated with radical ideologies, hate groups or terrorist organizations.”
That said, if Hussain was inspired by any ideology it would be one of violence. All throughout his life are documented incidents of self-harm and fantasies of hurting others.
“On May 14, 2010 Faisal Hussain was brought to a hospital as a result of him cutting his face during class,” the Danforth Shootings report states.
It also says Hussain “had an obsession with violence.”
And not just toward himself.
“Faisal Hussain told a physician that he had a long history of violent and aggressive behaviour,” including “the torturing and killing of animals” in which he “advised he felt no remorse.”
But he also denied “feeling hopeless, suicidal or homicidal” by telling professionals “he was only fooling around when he was talking about the Sept. 11 attacks, the Columbine High School shooting and having a big surprise for teachers on the last day of school.”
The red flags were there and in the end the Danforth shooting spree was not a hypothetical fantasy but a sick reality.
Police may not why it happened. But it happened.
jwarmington@postmedia.com
FAMILIES OF DANFORTH SHOOTING SPREE VICTIMS URGE COPS TO KEEP DIGGING
Keep on investigating!
That’s the message some Danforth shooting victims’ families are conveying to Toronto Police following the release Friday of their report on the deadly rampage.
“Your article captured the essence of how many of the families feel,” Ken Price told me Saturday.
His daughter Samantha Price was struck in the same volley of shots from Faisal Hussain’s gun that killed her friend Reese Fallon at the Alexander the Great Parkette where they were celebrating her 18th birthday.
She lived and Reese didn’t.
Ken Price, father of Samantha, one of last year’s Danforth shooting victims, speaks at a press conference at Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall, calling for tighter gun controls in Canada on Friday. Feb. 22, 2019. (Stan Behal/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network)
Julianna Kozis was also killed in the massacre that wounded 13.
The Fallons and the Kozis families have yet to comment on the report but Ken Price said the essence he references is not to criticize police but encourage them to keep striving for answers.
“The police shared what they felt they could,” said Price. “(Chief Mark) Saunders called the amount that was shared ‘unprecedented’ but they left many questions unanswered.”
Both Saunders and Det. Sgt. Terry Browne understand this frustration and indicated if new lanes open up they will investigate them.
The Toronto Police released the investigative findings of the Danforth shootings of July 22, 2018. Although we can’t answer all questions as to why this tragedy occurred, we keep the victims and families in our thoughts and hearts and work to keep our city safe.#DanforthShooting
— Mark Saunders (@marksaunderstps) June 22, 2019
One area that stands out could be surrounding a trip to Pakistan Hussain took with his father –something police had difficulty establishing information about.
Browne has promised if there ever was a reason to travel they will.
In addition to looking behind Hussain’s obvious mental health history to find a trigger or motive, Price encouraged their “ongoing investigations surrounding the source of the gun and the brother who is in a coma.”
The request is for police to not rest with this report but build on it to try to learn just what prompted Hussain to commit such an evil act.
“This is a complex case that deserves to be kept open as your call to action suggested,” said Price.
— Joe Warmington
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...ller-told-find-a-wife-prior-to-shooting-spree
Joe Warmington
Published:
June 22, 2019
Updated:
June 22, 2019 8:12 PM EDT
Faisal Hussain. (Supplied by family)
The reason may be a mystery but one fact that is undeniable is just an hour after being told to find a wife, Faisal Hussain shot two girls to death and wounded 13 others on The Danforth.
Now, while Toronto Police say they don’t know the motive for the deadly shooting spree that unfolded around 10 p.m. on July 22, 2018, they do know that at 9 p.m. the 29-year-old was talking to his twin brother on the balcony of their parents’ Thorncliffe Park Drive apartment.
“Family reported having a conversation with Faisal Hussain about his future and that he should find a wife,” Toronto Police said in their report on the Danforth shooting released Friday.
Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders during a press conference with updates on their investigation into the Danforth shooting on Friday, June 21, 2019. (Veronica Henri/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network)
The Sun has previously reported after Hussain said he was “mentally retarded” while smoking a cigarette” his brother urged him “to get his life together, get married and get some direction.”
Toronto Police now say “the family believe this conversation upset Faisal Hussain.”
Just 60 minutes later Julianna Kozis, 10, and Reese Fallon, 18, were repeatedly shot — along with 13 others who survived. That list of others struck by Hussain’s .40 calibre Smith and Wesson with seven magazines and at least ten bullets per clip were Danielle Kane; Julianna’s father Donny Kozis; Fallon’s friends, Samantha Price, Miranda Li and Ali Demrican; a mother and son named Joanne and Jon; and a waiter named Nick.
Reese Fallon, 18, (left) and Julianna Kozis, 10.
Police have told the families they don’t have a motive. But standing out in the report are the names of two men allegedly involved in misogynistic attacks that helped fuel and publicize the involuntary celibate phenomenon known as Incel.
Toronto Police state “there was a 4 second audio file of a male voice saying “Elliot Rodger golf course” and an internet search for Rodger’s infamous video manifesto thathe recorded before murdering six friends — three of whom were girls.
Hussain also conducted a search for a story about Toronto van attack suspect Alek Minassian who is before the courts for alledgedly murdering 10 and wounding 16 others exactly four months previous on March 22.
Before the Yonge St. attack, Minassian allegedly took to social media and announced: “The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!”
It was later understood Stacys are women who reject men while Chads are admired males who have regular sex with females.
Police are seen near a damaged van in Toronto after a van mounted a sidewalk crashing into a number of pedestrians on Monday, April 23, 2018. The victims of a deadly van attack in northern Toronto have a wider range of options for recourse to deal with the fallout because it involved a motor vehicle under the province’s insurance system, lawyers say. Aaron Vincent Elkaim / THE CANADIAN PRESS
But as Chief Mark Saunders and Det. Sgt. Terry Browne caution, no single posting nails down a motive. Hussain had many bizarre digital files, including those talking about terror, conspiracies and the holocaust by the Nazis.
Saunders said there is “no evidence Hussain was affiliated with radical ideologies, hate groups or terrorist organizations.”
That said, if Hussain was inspired by any ideology it would be one of violence. All throughout his life are documented incidents of self-harm and fantasies of hurting others.
“On May 14, 2010 Faisal Hussain was brought to a hospital as a result of him cutting his face during class,” the Danforth Shootings report states.
It also says Hussain “had an obsession with violence.”
And not just toward himself.
“Faisal Hussain told a physician that he had a long history of violent and aggressive behaviour,” including “the torturing and killing of animals” in which he “advised he felt no remorse.”
But he also denied “feeling hopeless, suicidal or homicidal” by telling professionals “he was only fooling around when he was talking about the Sept. 11 attacks, the Columbine High School shooting and having a big surprise for teachers on the last day of school.”
The red flags were there and in the end the Danforth shooting spree was not a hypothetical fantasy but a sick reality.
Police may not why it happened. But it happened.
jwarmington@postmedia.com
FAMILIES OF DANFORTH SHOOTING SPREE VICTIMS URGE COPS TO KEEP DIGGING
Keep on investigating!
That’s the message some Danforth shooting victims’ families are conveying to Toronto Police following the release Friday of their report on the deadly rampage.
“Your article captured the essence of how many of the families feel,” Ken Price told me Saturday.
His daughter Samantha Price was struck in the same volley of shots from Faisal Hussain’s gun that killed her friend Reese Fallon at the Alexander the Great Parkette where they were celebrating her 18th birthday.
She lived and Reese didn’t.
Ken Price, father of Samantha, one of last year’s Danforth shooting victims, speaks at a press conference at Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall, calling for tighter gun controls in Canada on Friday. Feb. 22, 2019. (Stan Behal/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network)
Julianna Kozis was also killed in the massacre that wounded 13.
The Fallons and the Kozis families have yet to comment on the report but Ken Price said the essence he references is not to criticize police but encourage them to keep striving for answers.
“The police shared what they felt they could,” said Price. “(Chief Mark) Saunders called the amount that was shared ‘unprecedented’ but they left many questions unanswered.”
Both Saunders and Det. Sgt. Terry Browne understand this frustration and indicated if new lanes open up they will investigate them.
The Toronto Police released the investigative findings of the Danforth shootings of July 22, 2018. Although we can’t answer all questions as to why this tragedy occurred, we keep the victims and families in our thoughts and hearts and work to keep our city safe.#DanforthShooting
— Mark Saunders (@marksaunderstps) June 22, 2019
One area that stands out could be surrounding a trip to Pakistan Hussain took with his father –something police had difficulty establishing information about.
Browne has promised if there ever was a reason to travel they will.
In addition to looking behind Hussain’s obvious mental health history to find a trigger or motive, Price encouraged their “ongoing investigations surrounding the source of the gun and the brother who is in a coma.”
The request is for police to not rest with this report but build on it to try to learn just what prompted Hussain to commit such an evil act.
“This is a complex case that deserves to be kept open as your call to action suggested,” said Price.
— Joe Warmington
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...ller-told-find-a-wife-prior-to-shooting-spree
You should check your coat and hat at the door.
Well, maybe in this case...outside the door please.
Is that like "Fly West Jet"?You should check your coat and hat at the door.
Well, maybe in this case...outside the door please.
WARMINGTON: Foundation created in memory of girl slain on Danforth
Joe Warmington
Published:
June 26, 2019
Updated:
June 26, 2019 8:02 PM EDT
Julianna Kozis (gofundme)
A gunman ensured Julianna Kozis will never go to camp.
But, in her memory, other children will have that opportunity.
It will be called Camp Kindness.
A tree will also be planted in memory of Julianna in her hometown of Markham less than a week after the one-year anniversary of her senseless murder in a shooting rampage that killed two and wounded 13 others.
It’s not going to bring back the 10-year-old who was slain by Faisal Hussain on The Danforth on July 22, 2018. However, this gesture — a special community event on July 28 in Fincham Park next to her school — will begin the growing of this exceptional, soft-hearted girl’s legacy.
The new charitable organization created in her memory will be called The JDK Foundation. In addition to being her inititals — — Julianna Despina Kozis — JDK stands for Just Do Kindness.
The Kozis family. (Supplied photo)
This tribute was the inspiration of Julianna’s cousin, Anastasia Kanellakis, 18, who is devastated by the slayings. She wanted to create something lasting.
“The Just Do Kindness Foundation has been created to honour the memory of Julianna and the kindness she embodied in life to keep her light shining and to inspire others to be kind,” says an online donation page set up by the Trentadue Torres Team and Kozis family members.
In addition to helping children in need, the effort also serves as a reminder of what Julianna could have been had this despicable massacre not stolen her and 18-year-old Reese Fallon’s life.
Both are not forgotten.
In Julianna’s case, the goal is to create a camp to help other kids facing difficulties.
“Our goal is to raise $25,000 to support their inaugural family camp program which will take place later this year. The family camp program will be named Camp Kindness, inspired by the JDK Foundation and the memory and spirit of Julianna Despina Kozis,” say the organizers. “One of the most powerful tributes to Julianna is to ensure that her bright light continues to shine, inspire and bring hope to the lives of others who most need it. For this reason, the funds raised in this campaign will benefit the Dr. Jay Children’s Grief Centre to help them provide much needed support to hundreds of children, youth and families facing grief, terminal illness and traumatic loss.
While they have publicly thanked police, emergency responders and citizens, the Kozis family — father Donny, mother Voula and son Anastassios (Anthony) — have been mostly silent since the shooting and, like the Fallons, have not commented on the Toronto Police’s final shooting report.
They have instead focused on Julianna, who on that deadly night was merely enjoying an ice cream with her family. They did just that by announcing the camp, the foundation, the planting of a tree and also releasing pictures of Julianna showing her doing what she loved must.
Having fun.
WARMINGTON: Ford Fest a much-needed love fest for Premier Doug
WARMINGTON: Danforth killer told ‘find a wife’ prior to shooting spree
WARMINGTON: Extensive Toronto Police report on Danforth shooting spree leaves many unanswered questions
“Julianna exuded positivity, beaming a smile at every turn,” says the tribute. “She was a light; a girl who had so much love in her heart and wanted peace throughout. The JDK Foundation hopes to achieve the same with the purpose of making kindness an instinct in the larger dream of making the world a better place.”
It’s too bad it wasn’t a better place for Julianna. It’s too bad it’s a place that can’t even tell her family the motive behind why her young life was stolen so savagely.
While it is true this foundation, camp and tree will not bring her back to her family, it will do something else that would have been important to Julianna Kozis.
It will help others.
www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/dr-jays-childrens-grief-centre/p2p/JDKFoundation
http://drjaychildrensgriefcentre.ca
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...n-created-in-memory-of-girl-slain-on-danforth
Joe Warmington
Published:
June 26, 2019
Updated:
June 26, 2019 8:02 PM EDT
Julianna Kozis (gofundme)
A gunman ensured Julianna Kozis will never go to camp.
But, in her memory, other children will have that opportunity.
It will be called Camp Kindness.
A tree will also be planted in memory of Julianna in her hometown of Markham less than a week after the one-year anniversary of her senseless murder in a shooting rampage that killed two and wounded 13 others.
It’s not going to bring back the 10-year-old who was slain by Faisal Hussain on The Danforth on July 22, 2018. However, this gesture — a special community event on July 28 in Fincham Park next to her school — will begin the growing of this exceptional, soft-hearted girl’s legacy.
The new charitable organization created in her memory will be called The JDK Foundation. In addition to being her inititals — — Julianna Despina Kozis — JDK stands for Just Do Kindness.
The Kozis family. (Supplied photo)
This tribute was the inspiration of Julianna’s cousin, Anastasia Kanellakis, 18, who is devastated by the slayings. She wanted to create something lasting.
“The Just Do Kindness Foundation has been created to honour the memory of Julianna and the kindness she embodied in life to keep her light shining and to inspire others to be kind,” says an online donation page set up by the Trentadue Torres Team and Kozis family members.
In addition to helping children in need, the effort also serves as a reminder of what Julianna could have been had this despicable massacre not stolen her and 18-year-old Reese Fallon’s life.
Both are not forgotten.
In Julianna’s case, the goal is to create a camp to help other kids facing difficulties.
“Our goal is to raise $25,000 to support their inaugural family camp program which will take place later this year. The family camp program will be named Camp Kindness, inspired by the JDK Foundation and the memory and spirit of Julianna Despina Kozis,” say the organizers. “One of the most powerful tributes to Julianna is to ensure that her bright light continues to shine, inspire and bring hope to the lives of others who most need it. For this reason, the funds raised in this campaign will benefit the Dr. Jay Children’s Grief Centre to help them provide much needed support to hundreds of children, youth and families facing grief, terminal illness and traumatic loss.
While they have publicly thanked police, emergency responders and citizens, the Kozis family — father Donny, mother Voula and son Anastassios (Anthony) — have been mostly silent since the shooting and, like the Fallons, have not commented on the Toronto Police’s final shooting report.
They have instead focused on Julianna, who on that deadly night was merely enjoying an ice cream with her family. They did just that by announcing the camp, the foundation, the planting of a tree and also releasing pictures of Julianna showing her doing what she loved must.
Having fun.
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“Julianna exuded positivity, beaming a smile at every turn,” says the tribute. “She was a light; a girl who had so much love in her heart and wanted peace throughout. The JDK Foundation hopes to achieve the same with the purpose of making kindness an instinct in the larger dream of making the world a better place.”
It’s too bad it wasn’t a better place for Julianna. It’s too bad it’s a place that can’t even tell her family the motive behind why her young life was stolen so savagely.
While it is true this foundation, camp and tree will not bring her back to her family, it will do something else that would have been important to Julianna Kozis.
It will help others.
www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/dr-jays-childrens-grief-centre/p2p/JDKFoundation
http://drjaychildrensgriefcentre.ca
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...n-created-in-memory-of-girl-slain-on-danforth
’I’m choosing not to be a victim’: Danforth mass shooting survivor
Canadian Press
Published:
July 20, 2019
Updated:
July 20, 2019 12:14 PM EDT
Danforth shooting victim Danielle Kane. (Stan Behal, Toronto Sun)
Danielle Kane struggled with depression in her 20s and even contemplated suicide.
But then she fell in love, enrolled in nursing school and felt she was finally on her way — until a summer night last year when a disturbed man went on a shooting spree in Toronto’s Greektown and a bullet tore through her body.
“Not now,” she thought as she lay on the ground in a pool of blood. “My life is not over.”
Kane, 32, was one of 13 people wounded in the July 22, 2018 rampage that left two dead — Reese Fallon, 18, and Julianna Kozis, 10 — and shocked the city.
Julianna Kozis, 10, (left) and Reese Fallon, 18, whose images are seen here at a memorial on the Danforth, were killed and 13 others wounded when a gunman went on a shooting rampage in Greektown on Sunday, July 22, 2018. (Chris Doucette/Toronto Sun)
That night Kane and her partner, Jerry Pinksen, were celebrating a friend’s birthday on a restaurant patio on Danforth Avenue when they heard what sounded like fireworks. A waitress urged everyone to go inside because there was a shooter on the loose. Kane was incredulous, but she took her glass of wine and followed Pinksen inside.
“We were safe,” she said in a recent interview.
Another patron said there was a victim outside, so Pinksen, an emergency department nurse, rushed out to help. Kane pulled on his arm, briefly worried about his safety, then decided to join him.
“We work in ER together and when there is an emergency, it’s all hands on deck,” she said.
Kane took two steps outside before she saw a dark figure standing on the street, just metres from the pair.
“I do remember thinking how odd it was he was just standing there,” Kane said.
Then she saw the gunman, 29-year-old Faisal Hussain, open fire.
She turned slightly and the bullet grazed her left forearm, burning it, before entering her body. It ripped through her abdomen, missed her aorta by a few centimetres and her spinal cord by a millimetre then ricocheted off her spine and exited her body through her right shoulder.
She collapsed and broke her ribs on the fall. She couldn’t feel her legs, and she had trouble breathing — her diaphragm and one lung collapsed, the other lung started to fill with blood.
Pinksen heard her scream and rushed back, carrying her inside the restaurant.
He remembered the shock and anger he felt at that moment.
“Then it clicked, she doesn’t need this, she needs Jerry the nurse now,” he said. He helped stabilize her and they waited until paramedics arrived.
Kane spent the next 11 days in a medically induced coma.
“That was the hardest, her in a coma, on a breathing machine, looking at the screen hoping things get better,” said Pinksen, 35.
Doctors performed four surgeries on Kane.
The first was to fuse her spine after the bullet shattered her T-11 vertebrae. The doctors told her the bullet didn’t sever her spinal cord, but passed so close that the energy from the bullet transferred to the spinal cord, causing massive cell death and leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.
She had three surgeries to repair her abdomen. When surgeons went in to get a look inside, they found food — ceviche and lamb pasta from dinner — all over her chest wall.
“That would have been a huge source of infection,” Pinksen said. “Catching it early saved her life, too.”
The last year has been a journey for the pair.
She spent two months at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute learning to live as a paraplegic.
“Everything has changed for me,” Kane said.
Pain is her biggest problem now.
WARMINGTON: Victim Danielle Kane forgives Danforth gunman
WARMINGTON: Danforth killer told ‘find a wife’ prior to shooting spree
“The pain is more disabling than a lack of ability to walk,” Kane said. Her lower back hurts and she has a constant “tingly, burning sensation” in her legs.
“From a caregiver and a partner, sometimes it’s difficult playing those different roles and seeing someone you care about struggle with pain,” Pinksen said. “It’s such a preoccupying force in our lives.”
She said cannabis helps. Physiotherapy also helps, but she’s hit her OHIP-supported limit.
Fortunately, the couple received more than $200,000 from a GoFundMe campaign launched by a friend. With the money, they’re moving to Oshawa, Ont., to be closer to her school, where she hopes to take a few classes come January to ease back into the nursing program. She plans to join a centre where she’ll continue her physiotherapy.
The money has also allowed Pinksen to take a leave from work to help out at home.
“Without that money, I would have been stressed out and my recovery would have been more difficult,” she said. “Maybe that’s why I’m so relaxed. That and Jerry!”
They are renovating the house to make it accessible, the couple said.
Mentally, there have been ups and downs, Kane said. Depression rears its dark head from time to time. But she has found solace in meditation and the idea that life is suffering punctuated with moments of joy.
“I feel with all the suffering I’ve had, I have a great capacity for joy,” Kane said with a laugh.
She sometimes thinks about the past — what it was like to dance and run and jump — that can take her down to a dark place.
“I try to catch myself and distance myself from the thought and let it float away,” she said.
A makeshift memorial in the Logan Green Field Parkette for the Danforth mass shooting on Aug. 22, 2018. (Joe Warmington/Toronto Sun)
She also thinks about the shooter. Police said Hussain, who killed himself moments after the shooting spree, lived with severe mental health issues since childhood and had a history of harming himself along with a fascination with death and violence.
“I forgive him,” she said. “I definitely have moments where he’s not my favourite person, but I see him as a human being who struggled and didn’t get help. I can only imagine how awful his life must have been to be so isolated and tortured by violent thoughts.”
But she refuses to be kept down.
“I don’t feel traumatized because I’ve taken it back,” she said. “I feel like I don’t want to be a victim. I’m choosing not to be a victim.”
http://torontosun.com/news/local-news/im-choosing-not-to-be-a-victim-danforth-mass-shooting-survivor
Canadian Press
Published:
July 20, 2019
Updated:
July 20, 2019 12:14 PM EDT
Danforth shooting victim Danielle Kane. (Stan Behal, Toronto Sun)
Danielle Kane struggled with depression in her 20s and even contemplated suicide.
But then she fell in love, enrolled in nursing school and felt she was finally on her way — until a summer night last year when a disturbed man went on a shooting spree in Toronto’s Greektown and a bullet tore through her body.
“Not now,” she thought as she lay on the ground in a pool of blood. “My life is not over.”
Kane, 32, was one of 13 people wounded in the July 22, 2018 rampage that left two dead — Reese Fallon, 18, and Julianna Kozis, 10 — and shocked the city.
Julianna Kozis, 10, (left) and Reese Fallon, 18, whose images are seen here at a memorial on the Danforth, were killed and 13 others wounded when a gunman went on a shooting rampage in Greektown on Sunday, July 22, 2018. (Chris Doucette/Toronto Sun)
That night Kane and her partner, Jerry Pinksen, were celebrating a friend’s birthday on a restaurant patio on Danforth Avenue when they heard what sounded like fireworks. A waitress urged everyone to go inside because there was a shooter on the loose. Kane was incredulous, but she took her glass of wine and followed Pinksen inside.
“We were safe,” she said in a recent interview.
Another patron said there was a victim outside, so Pinksen, an emergency department nurse, rushed out to help. Kane pulled on his arm, briefly worried about his safety, then decided to join him.
“We work in ER together and when there is an emergency, it’s all hands on deck,” she said.
Kane took two steps outside before she saw a dark figure standing on the street, just metres from the pair.
“I do remember thinking how odd it was he was just standing there,” Kane said.
Then she saw the gunman, 29-year-old Faisal Hussain, open fire.
She turned slightly and the bullet grazed her left forearm, burning it, before entering her body. It ripped through her abdomen, missed her aorta by a few centimetres and her spinal cord by a millimetre then ricocheted off her spine and exited her body through her right shoulder.
She collapsed and broke her ribs on the fall. She couldn’t feel her legs, and she had trouble breathing — her diaphragm and one lung collapsed, the other lung started to fill with blood.
Pinksen heard her scream and rushed back, carrying her inside the restaurant.
He remembered the shock and anger he felt at that moment.
“Then it clicked, she doesn’t need this, she needs Jerry the nurse now,” he said. He helped stabilize her and they waited until paramedics arrived.
Kane spent the next 11 days in a medically induced coma.
“That was the hardest, her in a coma, on a breathing machine, looking at the screen hoping things get better,” said Pinksen, 35.
Doctors performed four surgeries on Kane.
The first was to fuse her spine after the bullet shattered her T-11 vertebrae. The doctors told her the bullet didn’t sever her spinal cord, but passed so close that the energy from the bullet transferred to the spinal cord, causing massive cell death and leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.
She had three surgeries to repair her abdomen. When surgeons went in to get a look inside, they found food — ceviche and lamb pasta from dinner — all over her chest wall.
“That would have been a huge source of infection,” Pinksen said. “Catching it early saved her life, too.”
The last year has been a journey for the pair.
She spent two months at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute learning to live as a paraplegic.
“Everything has changed for me,” Kane said.
Pain is her biggest problem now.
WARMINGTON: Victim Danielle Kane forgives Danforth gunman
WARMINGTON: Danforth killer told ‘find a wife’ prior to shooting spree
“The pain is more disabling than a lack of ability to walk,” Kane said. Her lower back hurts and she has a constant “tingly, burning sensation” in her legs.
“From a caregiver and a partner, sometimes it’s difficult playing those different roles and seeing someone you care about struggle with pain,” Pinksen said. “It’s such a preoccupying force in our lives.”
She said cannabis helps. Physiotherapy also helps, but she’s hit her OHIP-supported limit.
Fortunately, the couple received more than $200,000 from a GoFundMe campaign launched by a friend. With the money, they’re moving to Oshawa, Ont., to be closer to her school, where she hopes to take a few classes come January to ease back into the nursing program. She plans to join a centre where she’ll continue her physiotherapy.
The money has also allowed Pinksen to take a leave from work to help out at home.
“Without that money, I would have been stressed out and my recovery would have been more difficult,” she said. “Maybe that’s why I’m so relaxed. That and Jerry!”
They are renovating the house to make it accessible, the couple said.
Mentally, there have been ups and downs, Kane said. Depression rears its dark head from time to time. But she has found solace in meditation and the idea that life is suffering punctuated with moments of joy.
“I feel with all the suffering I’ve had, I have a great capacity for joy,” Kane said with a laugh.
She sometimes thinks about the past — what it was like to dance and run and jump — that can take her down to a dark place.
“I try to catch myself and distance myself from the thought and let it float away,” she said.
A makeshift memorial in the Logan Green Field Parkette for the Danforth mass shooting on Aug. 22, 2018. (Joe Warmington/Toronto Sun)
She also thinks about the shooter. Police said Hussain, who killed himself moments after the shooting spree, lived with severe mental health issues since childhood and had a history of harming himself along with a fascination with death and violence.
“I forgive him,” she said. “I definitely have moments where he’s not my favourite person, but I see him as a human being who struggled and didn’t get help. I can only imagine how awful his life must have been to be so isolated and tortured by violent thoughts.”
But she refuses to be kept down.
“I don’t feel traumatized because I’ve taken it back,” she said. “I feel like I don’t want to be a victim. I’m choosing not to be a victim.”
http://torontosun.com/news/local-news/im-choosing-not-to-be-a-victim-danforth-mass-shooting-survivor