Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca called on the federal government to address the gun violence crisis after another house was shot at in the city.
A Vaughan home that has been the target of gunfire twice in the last month is associated to a murdered member of the tow truck industry in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), York Regional Police say.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, police said the home that was hit by gunfire overnight was associated to Alexander Vinogradsky, a tow truck driver who was fatally shot in 2024.
The shooting, which occurred at a home on Farrell Road, located in the area of Bathurst Street and Major Mackenzie Drive, occurred at around 3:30 a.m.
Shortly after gunshots rang out on that street, police said another home was targeted nearby.
In total, police say six shootings at four separate addresses in Vaughan have been linked. All six shootings occurred this past month, police noted.
While one home that was targeted was associated with Vinogradsky, who was shot and killed in North York in March 2024, police would not confirm if all the shootings are connected to recent violent incidents linked to the towing industry.
“We understand that this is very concerning,” Const. Lisa Moskaluk told reporters on Wednesday.
“It is important to understand that these incidents are targeted between specific individuals. I cannot get into the details of that, but they are not random.”
The suspects in Wednesday morning’s shooting were seen fleeing the area in a white or silver SUV, police said. No injuries were reported.
Speaking to reporters outside the Farrell Road home on Wednesday morning, Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca said he is “frustrated” by the repeated incidents of violence in the city.
“As you can see, we are in a really beautiful, quiet residential neighbourhood that we have here in the city of Vaughan with news again that a home in this neighbourhood has been shot at,” he said.
“This is not the first time over the last number of weeks. This has happened several times in different neighbourhood both in this general part of our city, also over on the west side of our city.”
He said York Regional Police are working “around the clock” to keep residents of the region safe.
“I am very, very frustrated with the fact that we continue to struggle with criminals and crime here in our city, a city that I have lived in for close to 40 years,” Del Duca added.
“We need our federal government to show leadership, to step up, to introduce legislation and pass legislation… urgently to confront this crisis.”