{"id":172707,"date":"2018-07-23T22:56:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T02:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=172707"},"modified":"2018-07-23T22:56:17","modified_gmt":"2018-07-24T02:56:17","slug":"danforthstrong-movement-grows-as-people-look-for-ways-to-help-after-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/07\/23\/danforthstrong-movement-grows-as-people-look-for-ways-to-help-after-shooting\/","title":{"rendered":"#DanforthStrong movement grows as people look for ways to help after shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
File Photo: \u201cIt’s the Danforth \u2014 we always come together,\u201d Routledge said. (Photo<\/a> by Ryan Lindsay for Ward 34\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO\u00a0\u2014 Hours after Sunday’s mass shooting in\u00a0Toronto’s vibrant Greektown neighbourhood, a groundswell of support began for the victims and local businesses, with many vowing on social media to shop and dine on the strip as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Businesses along the normally bustling stretch of\u00a0Danforth\u00a0Avenue were shut down Monday as police investigated the scene, where less than 24 hours earlier, a man went on a shooting spree that that left two dead and 13 more injured.<\/p>\n

Authorities said the suspected gunman fled the area on foot and was later found dead with a gunshot wound.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0Danforth\u00a0is so silent today, it’s creepy,\u201d said Keiley Routledge, who owns the\u00a0Danforth\u00a0staple Small Wonders Pets and lives in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur store is closed, all the businesses for the most part are closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Routledge set up a GoFundMe campaign called\u00a0Danforth\u00a0Strong to help the victims and their families. There was also a GoFundMe campaign called\u00a0Danforth\u00a0Shooting Victims Fund circulating online.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s the\u00a0Danforth\u00a0\u2014 we always come together,\u201d Routledge said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, social media users shouted out their favourite spots along the\u00a0Danforth\u00a0Monday, using the hashtags #TorontoStrong and #DanforthStrong and encouraging others to join in on supporting local businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey\u00a0Toronto! What if this week we all tried to go to the #Danforth\u00a0for dinner, or for an ice cream, or just for a walk,\u201d tweeted actress Tara Spencer-Nairn of \u201cCorner Gas\u201d fame.<\/p>\n

\u201cShow support to our neighbours. We are a city of communities and we are nothing without each other!<\/p>\n

Mark Sanagan, who lives in the area with his wife and twin eight-year-old daughters, said if it weren’t for the yellow police tape, he would have taken his family out for dinner at those same restaurants Monday night.<\/p>\n

Sanagan said he’s \u201criled up\u201d about the violence that has rattled the neighbourhood’s close-knit community, and he’s determined not to let the many family-owned businesses in the area be punished for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m glad people will think about supporting the workers in this community, who were traumatized as well,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cTo not just be psychologically damaged, but financially damaged as well would be a double injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

Routledge said her daughter was at a local bar when the shooting happened Sunday night and called her to say, \u201cMom, I’m OK,\u201d adding: \u201cI saw everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe’s coping as you would expect somebody would cope, watching people fall like dominoes in front of her and hiding under a table and holding somebody’s baby,\u201d Routledge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe quick response of all the first responders was amazing. I’ve never seen so many police cars in my entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO\u00a0\u2014 Hours after Sunday’s mass shooting in\u00a0Toronto’s vibrant Greektown neighbourhood, a groundswell of support began for the victims and local …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":172735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","mauthors-victoria-ahearn","mauthors-adina-bresge","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}