A baby who was delivered by emergency C-section after its mother was shot to death in Jamestown this morning is now in stable condition, police confirm.
Speaking to reporters Monday morning, Det.- Sgt. Mike Carbone said the mother, identified by police as 35-year-old Malton resident Candice Rochelle Bobb, was killed when the vehicle she was in was hit by gunfire on John Garland Boulevard, near Jamestown Crescent, at around 11 p.m. Sunday.
Carbone said Bobb and three other people were driving home from a basketball game in the city's east end when they stopped in the Rexdale neighbourhood to drop off one of the passengers.
Police say it was at that point that a suspect approached the car and opened fire.
Bobb, who was seated in the back of the vehicle, was struck by at least one of the bullets and initial reports indicated that she sustained a gunshot wound to the chest.
The other occupants of the vehicle were not injured in the shooting and immediately drove Bobb to Etobicoke General Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
The child, who police say is about 20 weeks old, was delivered by emergency C-section and transferred to a trauma centre, where the baby remains in stable condition.
Dr. Narendra Singh, chief of staff at Humber River Regional Hospital, said the coming days will be critical to whether the child will be able to survive.
Singh, who is not treating the child, spoke to CP24 from the perspective of a health expert.
“The immediate concern would be the issue around survival from the point of view of the lungs,” he said. “So if the baby can survive over the next couple of days on the respirator, then the other things come into question, and one of the big areas is the brain.”
According to Singh, if the baby is in fact 20 weeks old, as was reported, the chances of the child’s survival are not good.
“The fact that Sunnybrook has said the baby is stable – it’s actually a very good sign,” he said, suggesting that may point to the baby being older than originally reported.
“One or two weeks can make a tremendous amount of difference.”
In the meantime, police spent the day canvassing the neighbourhood for clues to the events leading up to the shooting.
Police said it is too early to tell if Bobb was targeted in the shooting.
“This is very early in the investigation. I can say that for some reason, only known to the offender at this point, I can say that that vehicle was certainly targeted," Carbone told reporters.
He added that the other occupants of the vehicle were not previously known to police.
Investigators have not yet released a suspect description.
They are also looking into the possibility that the suspect or suspects fired the shots from a vehicle.
"At this time, I’m appealing to anyone who has any information with respect to this homicide and am requesting that the contact me at the homicide squad," Carbone said.
Officers, public 'outraged' by shooting
Supt. Ron Taverner said police in the city are "shocked" and "outraged" by the violence.
"I’ve had conversations with members of the media that are feeling the same. The whole community is outraged. The whole city is outraged that this can happen," he said.
As part of the investigation, officers are canvassing the neighbourhood and reviewing video surveillance footage, which Taverner said has been recently upgraded in Jamestown.
The new equipment, he added, has helped in past investigations and he said police are "hopeful" that it will assist in this investigation as well.
Taverner said that the number of shootings in the city has "increased dramatically" this year over previous years, a development he attributes to an increased number of guns on the street.
"Certainly there is concern right across the city when these things are occurring," he said.
"Yes, this woman was pregnant and hopefully this baby survives but any shooting is very tragic. Anything where people are going to that level of violence is just disgusting."
Mayor John Tory also weighed in on the shooting, calling it a “travesty” and a “tragedy.”
“I want to express my sympathy to her friends and to her family,” he said during a press conference early Monday afternoon.
“My heart goes out in particular to her baby. No baby should come into this world without a mother.”
Tory thanked medical personnel for their efforts to save the child’s life. He also pleaded with those who may have information about the incident to come forward.
“I would ask that anyone, for the sake of this baby and the late mother, that has any information about his tragic shooting (to) come forward and share that information with the police or with Crime Stoppers,” he said.
“We just have to have the co-operation of every single person we can in dealing with these kinds of incidents. This is just not the way we want to live in this city.”
On Monday evening, Tory and Deputy Mayor Vincent Crisanti visited the neighbourhood where Bobb was fatally shot.
“I wanted to come down with (the deputy mayor) to first of all learn and listen, as to how we can make sure this kind of unspeakable violence doesn’t happen anymore, but also to provide some degree of comfort to these people,” Tory said.
“These are good people who live in this neighbourhood.”
Ares residents, he said, expressed a desire to see more police officers in the area, as well as additional programs aimed at youth.
Community members also want the guns off their streets, a problem the mayor described as “totally unacceptable.”
“It is a problem – it’s not confined to this area,” he said.
Crisanti said that area residents were still trying to come to grips with the news of Bobb’s murder.
“We lost a mother who now is not going to see her child come into this world, and we have a child – that if this child does survive – is not going to have a mother,” he said.
“The community is devastated.”
