Toronto’s first major sports championship in 26 years. A joyous parade to celebrate the Raptors’ first-ever title win. As many Raptors fans at the time suspected, a last chance to salute superstar Kawhi Leonard before he would leave the team as a free agent.
June 17, 2019, was supposed to be a beautiful day for Toronto’s sports fans to savour — and for many it still was, despite the chaos that broke out in part of Nathan Phillips Square when gunfire erupted in the packed crowd. As Toronto’s downtown trauma centre, St. Michael’s was tasked with treating those who were shot, stabbed and trampled. A Code Orange was ultimately called — alerting staff that an external emergency had occurred that would result in an influx of patients. Overall, including people presenting with more minor injuries and others who needed treatment unrelated to the parade, nearly 270 patients were seen in St. Michael’s Emergency Department (ED) on the 17th.
This is the story of that day.