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Residents watched as teen beaten, stabbed
No one called police because violence so common in area
Jul. 18, 2006. 05:57 PM
ROBYN DOOLITTLE AND CURTIS RUSH
STAFF REPORTERS
Several residents of a North York housing complex watched as a teenage boy was stripped down to his underwear and slowly beaten to death Friday night, but they say they didn't intervene because it didn't look that serious and violence is so common in the area.
The teen's disfigured body was found in a nearby Flemingdon Park ravine at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday. He collapsed in a wooded area behind an apartment building on Don Mills Rd., near Eglinton Ave. E.
Police have identified the teen as 17-year-old Omar Wellington.
A post-mortem examination determined the cause of death as " a multitude of stab wounds to the neck," police said on Tuesday.
Homicide investigators say they are interested in speaking with anyone who was in the area of 61 Grenoble Drive on Friday between 5 p .m. and 8 p.m., and who may have seen a fight involving several young people near the south side of this housing complex.
A mother of three, who didn't want her name used, said "they're always play fighting down there, but they play rough. I didn't think anything of it. He looked okay when I went out to see. Now I just wish I would have done something."
Police say they're unsure why residents didn't contact them when they noticed the clash, but say it may have been because they didn't think the boy was seriously injured.
"It's not really that bad of an area at all ... and we're getting a lot of help from residents," Sgt. Peter Churcher said. "(The most common problem) is kids end up getting in fights."
The woman, who lives in the complex, said a neighbour called Friday night to say a group of about 15 teenagers had stripped a boy naked and were now "beating the hell out of him."
News of the beating spread quickly as neighbours went door to door to warn each other that they should bring their children inside and lock their doors - but no one called the police.
One man, who was walking by, saw the fight and pulled out his cellphone to call 911, but several of the assailants threatened him so he put his phone away and went home.
As the woman left her apartment about 8:30 p.m., she noticed that the teen was standing alone away from the group in his underwear. He did not appear in distress.
"He looked like he was composing himself. I don't know why he didn't just run away if he wasn't okay," she said.
Churcher said the Flemingdon Park area is no more dangerous than other parts of the city and suggested that violence is often correlated with rising temperatures.
An elderly woman who refused to give her name had another theory.
"We have to live here - that's why nobody ever sees anything.... No one wants to get shot for something they weren't part of," she said. "And people may not understand that, but it's because they don't live here."
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I used to associate this kind of thing with other places - like Detroit or Newark or something. Quite frankly, I dont really know what to say in response.
No one called police because violence so common in area
Jul. 18, 2006. 05:57 PM
ROBYN DOOLITTLE AND CURTIS RUSH
STAFF REPORTERS
Several residents of a North York housing complex watched as a teenage boy was stripped down to his underwear and slowly beaten to death Friday night, but they say they didn't intervene because it didn't look that serious and violence is so common in the area.
The teen's disfigured body was found in a nearby Flemingdon Park ravine at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday. He collapsed in a wooded area behind an apartment building on Don Mills Rd., near Eglinton Ave. E.
Police have identified the teen as 17-year-old Omar Wellington.
A post-mortem examination determined the cause of death as " a multitude of stab wounds to the neck," police said on Tuesday.
Homicide investigators say they are interested in speaking with anyone who was in the area of 61 Grenoble Drive on Friday between 5 p .m. and 8 p.m., and who may have seen a fight involving several young people near the south side of this housing complex.
A mother of three, who didn't want her name used, said "they're always play fighting down there, but they play rough. I didn't think anything of it. He looked okay when I went out to see. Now I just wish I would have done something."
Police say they're unsure why residents didn't contact them when they noticed the clash, but say it may have been because they didn't think the boy was seriously injured.
"It's not really that bad of an area at all ... and we're getting a lot of help from residents," Sgt. Peter Churcher said. "(The most common problem) is kids end up getting in fights."
The woman, who lives in the complex, said a neighbour called Friday night to say a group of about 15 teenagers had stripped a boy naked and were now "beating the hell out of him."
News of the beating spread quickly as neighbours went door to door to warn each other that they should bring their children inside and lock their doors - but no one called the police.
One man, who was walking by, saw the fight and pulled out his cellphone to call 911, but several of the assailants threatened him so he put his phone away and went home.
As the woman left her apartment about 8:30 p.m., she noticed that the teen was standing alone away from the group in his underwear. He did not appear in distress.
"He looked like he was composing himself. I don't know why he didn't just run away if he wasn't okay," she said.
Churcher said the Flemingdon Park area is no more dangerous than other parts of the city and suggested that violence is often correlated with rising temperatures.
An elderly woman who refused to give her name had another theory.
"We have to live here - that's why nobody ever sees anything.... No one wants to get shot for something they weren't part of," she said. "And people may not understand that, but it's because they don't live here."
_______________________________________________
I used to associate this kind of thing with other places - like Detroit or Newark or something. Quite frankly, I dont really know what to say in response.