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Extra, Extra: Bright Lights, Warrant Issued for Suspect in Etobicoke Shooting, and a Poll Shows Chow Leading Vaughan
Every weekday’s end, we collect just about everything you ought to care about or ought not to miss.
Photo by Saharsh Cherian from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
- A 19-year-old man is facing several charges after allegedly shining a laser light at a York Regional Police helicopter early Sunday morning. The helicopter, “Air 2,” was assisting officers responding to a weapons call when the pilots reported being struck by a bright light at about 2 a.m. The crew engaged in safety precautions and, through infrared imaging, spotted three men standing next to a vehicle on Jenna Court. Emergency response officers and a canine unit responded to the suspect’s location, from which the suspect fled on foot before being quickly apprehended. Nicholas Caranci is scheduled to appear in court September 18.
- A Canada-wide search warrant has been issued for a man wanted in the connection of a shooting outside of a popular Etobicoke strip club late last year. Mohamud Yousef Omar, 24, is wanted on several charges including aggravated assault and attempted murder after a 24-year-old man was shot several times, including once in the head, in the parking lot outside of House of Lancaster near Queensway and Royal York Road. Omar is known to hang out in Rexdale and Etobicoke, but may be in Fort McMurray, Alberta. He is considered armed and dangerous.
- In the high profile Spadina-Fort York election matchup, recent polling has NDP candidate Olivia Chow leading Liberal incumbent Adam Vaughan. But how much you believe the numbers depends on your definitions of “recent” and “polling”. An interactive voice response telephone poll, conducted August 5 to 7 by Forum Research, showed that 83 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds surveyed leaned towards Chow, and fewer than 1 per cent towards Vaughan. If those numbers seem weird it’s because only 345 voters were surveyed, and Forum president Lorne Bozinoff cautioned relying heavily on the poll due to the small sample size. Bozinoff said in a statement, “While Chow’s support looks insurmountable, it must be remembered this poll was taken among a relatively small sample of voters in the riding, and her strongest supporters are the youngest, who rarely vote.” Chow’s only response: “I don’t comment on polls because it’s a long election and the polls will go up and down.” Only 61 more days.