'He was dying': Neighbour recounts Toronto shooting victim's pain as 911 hold stretched on
CBC
Kevin was watching TV in his pyjamas inside his Weston neighbourhood home Saturday night, when he heard the crack of gunshots ring out nearby.
He rushed outside to find two teenagers trying to carry another teen's body while yelling for help.
Kevin called 911. But instead of an operator, he got stuck on hold.
"We didn't know what we were supposed to do. What we did was what we thought was best, because we felt left alone at this point. He was bleeding out — he got shot in the chest," Kevin said. CBC News is using a pseudonym in place of Kevin's real name over concerns for his safety.
"I didn't see much blood, but I saw his eyes. He was in shock, and he was dying."
Days a 15-year-old was fatally shot near Emmett Avenue and Jane Street, Kevin is left wondering if a faster emergency services response would have made a difference in potentially saving the boy's life.
"It's ridiculous. A 15-year-old died, and no one is answering," he said.
"I was on hold for like 10 minutes."
Officers were first called about the shooting around 10 p.m. In a news release, Toronto police said the boy was later taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A suspect took off before police got there, investigators say. The teen's death marks Toronto's 14th homicide of the year.
Kevin told CBC News that when he first saw what was happening that night, he ran across the street and helped bring the boy to his neighbour's house.
They laid the victim on his side as he was having trouble breathing and tried to comfort him while telling him to stay awake, Kevin said. The teen had a medical mask on at the time, he said — and when they removed it, Kevin was taken aback by just how young he was.
"When I took the mask off him so he could help breathe a bit, he was … like my son's age. I was in shock," he said.
The group eventually hailed down a car and got the boy in the back before he was taken to a nearby hospital, Kevin said.
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