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The mayor of Kingston, Ont., wants a harm reduction site closed and a nearby homeless encampment dismantled after two people were killed and a third seriously injured in a flurry of violence witnessed by horrified neighbours.
“I will not stand by and wait until more people die — enough is enough,” said Mayor Bryan Paterson on Thursday.
“We need to clear the encampment, close this safe injection site and the (Integrated Care Hub) until we can find a better way to support our most vulnerable residents and work with the province to provide treatment and housing solutions.”
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Kingston police said a man attacked three people in the area, on Montreal Street north of the city’s downtown, at about 10:30 a.m. Thursday. One of the weapons was a hammer.
“(The injuries) are consistent with injuries one would receive from an edged weapon and a blunt object,” said Const. Anthony Colangeli.
Police cornered the man and his dog in a nearby vacant lot. They convinced him to send his dog out to officers before arresting him at about 4:55 p.m.
Staff at the Integrated Care Hub locked down their building. Ted Robinson, board chair of Trellis HIV and Community Care which operates the hub, said its staff were some of the first to respond and give first aid to the victims.
“They just did everything they could to support the people who were injured and the people who saw what was going on,” Robinson said.
Linda McGinness, who lives north of the Integrated Care Hub, said that at about 10:44 a.m., she heard a commotion and screams outside her front door. Looking out she saw a woman who had been riding a push scooter had been struck in the head with a hammer. She was screaming and bleeding profusely before being given medical attention.
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A man with a dog was across the street yelling at her.
He kept saying, ‘I’m sick of these people’
Linda McGinness
“He kept saying, ‘I’m sick of these people,’” McGinness said.
In a video provided to the Whig-Standard newspaper, another witness is heard yelling at the man, “You hit her with a hammer!”
Staff from the Integrated Care Hub ran over to help the woman as McGinness filmed the man before he ran into the bush across the street, she said.
“It’s an awful day,” Robinson said. “Our staff is feeling this quite intensely.”
Colangeli said police are examining two to three different scenes where the attacks took place. Hub staff said two of the scenes were within the encampment, while a resident in the area witnessed one attack on Montreal Street where blood stained the pavement.
In a photo provided to the Whig-Standard, one of the victims is seen lying on the sidewalk with Kingston Police and another woman providing first aid. A hammer with a black handle is on the ground next to her.
Robinson said the staff at the Integrated Care Hub has undoubtedly been traumatized by what they’ve witnessed, but that the incident is isolated.
“I just hope that people will not rush to any sort of judgment,” Robinson said. “We know what has been going on provincially, as far as places like the Integrated Care Hub, that have consumption treatment sites and that are centres for people who use substances, who are unhoused, and I just hope that people won’t rush to judgment, (assuming) that this horrible situation, is a reflection of that situation. Because that’s a much bigger, provincial, social, societal issue, and this is completely separate from that in my mind.”
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The mayor did not seem to see it the same way.
“It is no longer safe for people to use (Consumption and Treatment Services) and we need to respond,” Paterson said. “We as a city have been talking about the dangers of this encampment in and around the safe injection site for almost three years.
“There are community partners and advocates who have fought the city on every attempt we’ve made to clear this encampment and ensure public safety for those living there.”
National Post, with files from Steph Crosier and Elliot Ferguson, Postmedia News
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