It's difficult to ascertain exactly why so many residents on
Bon Echo Ct., in the Markham and McLevin area ignored the sound of gunshots in the early morning hours of Tuesday. Many likely didn't want to get involved, while others simply mistook the sound for fireworks, or some other equally innocuous neighbourhood ruckus.
But as the sun rose and the blindfold of night was lifted, their collective folly was revealed.
A woman on her way to work stepped out the front door and made the horrific discovery - a young man lay dead on her front lawn. Police believe his bullet-ridden body may have been there for almost seven hours, and it's likely that he was desperately clinging to life for part of that excruciating stretch of time.
Unfortunately, no one bothered to call police, and without timely medical intervention, he didn't stand a chance. A day later the realization that a simple 911 call could have saved a life was resonating with residents who now regretted their aloofness.
"I heard three shots and I didn't bother to call the police," one resident, who didn't want to be identified, admitted.
"I regret it because now I find out the guy didn't die right away...it took time, if I did call the police it could have made a difference."
Prema Suresh was sure she heard the loud bangs in her bedroom at around 1am. "I asked my husband, 'Why don't you check, I heard a shooting noise,'" she remembers. "My husband said 'No, no, no, no. That was the wind, you know, or a raccoon flipped over the garbage.'"
The man had already expired by the time emergency services personnel arrived and homicide detectives are combing the area for clues.
"The body has been removed, on its way to the morgue," noted a grim Det. Sgt. Chris Buck. "We have been able to identify who this young person is but I'm not going to reveal the name until we've notified next of kin."
Authorities believe he was shot near the Malvern Town Centre, but a trail of blood shows he struggled to escape the area before collapsing on the front lawn.
"We've been able to locate the beginning of a blood trail in a small stand of trees in behind the mall and it moves in a northwesterly direction...and a little farther northwest into the yard."
There are no known motives or suspects yet.
It's the 43rd murder of the year and the 25th at the point of a gun. It's a grim statistic, but it's an improvement over 2007 - last year at this time, we'd already had 55 homicides.