It started with 4 suspicious fires on the weekend all targeting adult-oriented businesses.
Then all on the same day we had another massage parlour fire in St. Thomas, a shooting in SoHo and four bank robberies in a little over 2 hours! It was crazy. Everyone was murmuring “biker gang war” even though there were many signs that it wasn’t. Yes, some outlaw bike gang members owned some of the places that were torched but police finally had to come forward and tell us what they knew, especially after nabbing 3 guys following the shooting. It’s a street gang going after a bike gang. (I refuse to use their names here and legitimize them. My blog, my rules!)
Some crime experts say the time of the bike gang is over. Street gangs rule the drug trade and prostitution and they are young and unafraid. They will pull out a gun like pulling out a lighter. In other words, it sucks large to have them here. Also, they are migrating from Toronto. One of the guys arrested this week is from a Toronto suburb. When another alleged shooter went on the run, they found him in the GTA. Thanks, Toronto, but I wanted you to send an Ikea, not a bunch of thugs! Oh and the bank robberies were separate from this other activity. A Toronto man is under arrest for those. Again, thanks Hogtown, you shouldn’t have.
Wednesday was the busiest day I’ve had at the newsdesk in a long time. But pity our reporter Avery who had just settled in for a lovely breakfast alongside a business crowd at Mayor Fontana’s State of the City address when we called her away to go to one of the crime scenes. If they served eggs benedict, don’t tell Avery. We have to convince her she missed a lousy meal!
The same old critics are blaming the police for gangs taking root here. Chief Duncan says they know of seven gangs in the city which probably means there are more. But armchair complainers don’t seem to comprehend that police are bound to uphold the law. They can’t just go rounding up people with unusual names and droopy jeans. I wish to hell there were no illegal firearms in the hands of stupid kids either, but cops are out there doing a job I am far too chicken to do but desperately needs doing. These idiots – all under the age of 30 apparently – have no respect for anything but what they can get; money, drugs, women, attention. They’re treating our cities as if they are video games. I wish I knew how to make it stop.