'This is unacceptable:' Deputy police chief calls for community action after 7-year-old shot

Hamilton police deputy chief Frank Bergen stood in front of a home on Gordon StreetThursday evening, moments after bullets from a targeted shooting left an"innocent" 7-year-old boyfighting for his life and urged the community to rally against gun violence.

"This is unacceptable" Bergen said.

"This is the opportunity where we all stand down for a moment and say 'guns don't belong on our streets,'anybody who sees things, says thingsand tells us, we're going to be a lot safer if everyone is involved."

The east-end shooting is the third in 2020 and the first with a victim. It follows 2019, which had47 shootings, the highest number in eight years.

But the misfired bullets also came just three days after Hamilton Police announced its budget proposal for the new year without any mention of new money toward gun and gang violence.

And Bergen's emotional call for a response came just hours after police were asked by city politicians why there wasn't a greater focus on battling gun violence in that.

Councillors demand task force and focus on Ward 3

Thursday afternoon when police presented their budget to council Ward 9 Coun.Brad Clark (Upper Stoney Creek) told police chief Eric Girthe's tired of hearing about targeted shootings andsaid each crime impacts the broader community. And he eerily warned that innocent children could be harmed.

"These are not marksmen, they don't know what they're doing with a gunand when they're shooting at a house, a child could be inside and we don't know that bullet is going to go through or not," he said at the meeting.

"They're shooting across the city at an unparalleled rate. It wasn't mentioned in your budget at all and you eliminated the task force."

Clark told CBC News on Friday he felt there was a more of a focus on traffic than gun crime, leaving him "dismayed" especially since his own son, who is healthy now, was shot in 2015.

"It appeared to me that all of the gun violence and the shootings was inconsequential to the police chief when it wasn't mentioned anywhere in his budget presentation, but he stressed the priority of hiring eight new officers for speeding," he said.

"The concentration should be 'how do we fix this?' "

Girt, in the meeting, saidgun crime issues aren't just a "Hamilton-centric problem" and noted Hamilton police are working with partners to get more money to deal with broader issues.

"In terms of the gang task force, that was a temporary measure and yes, you could sustain it, I could've come to the board first and council to say I need 15 more investigators for guns and gangs. We have a number of officers dedicated to doing just that," he said.

"To say alocalized task force will do it alone is not accurate."

Bergen, on Thursday, echoed those concerns, linking Hamilton's crime problems to spillover from Toronto.

"We hear a great deal about the problems in the GTA and we are now talking about a sidewalk in our community that's also affected by this," Bergensaid.

"Let's all start looking at what are the problems with guns and gang activity and look at solutions together."

Bergen and investigor Det.-Sgt. Jim Callender both said neighbours in the area and residents nearby should help make the city safer by talking to each other and speaking to the police.

"We are looking for that community,the people who do know something, to take that step forward and tell the police what they know, help us move forward andhelp us solve the investigation,"Callendar said Friday.

"There's always that piece of information that will put that puzzle together for us and we're always looking for that one little piece."

The seven-year-old boy was shot in Ward 3, led byCoun. Nrinder Nann. She told CBC News she thinks her ward, Hamilton Centre, has the highest level of gun violence and shootings.

"I would like to get a very clear picture from our police services about what is being done to reduce the activity that's happening in the ward," she said.

"It's difficult right now when we know that our police services attempted to do a task force and now the result of it is we don't have a task force. I would still like to see localized support for neighbourhoods where the activity is occurring the highest."

Despite Hamilton police scrapping the Make Safe task force aimed at taking on gun violence following a spike in shootings, Mayor Fred Eisenberger defended police efforts.

"I think it's a little unfair to pick on one little area and say 'you didn't mention this one' when he didn't mention many, many other thingsthat are ails in are community," he told CBC News.

"There is a gun and gangs and weapons unit operatingall the way through and they deal with these issues each and every day."

'Ban the damn guns'

Eisenberger also brought up combinedefforts between the city and emergency and social services to manage the precursorsthat lead up to crime and violence, like mental health issues and homelessness.

But he says the best solution is out of the city's hands.

"The best resolution, in my view, as one part of the solution is to ban the damn guns ... in our inner city there is no reason, in my mind, for anybody to be brandishing, carrying or concealing a gun," Eisenbergersaid.

"At some point, we need some federal laws around this and the municipalities don't have the authority to do this on our own, if they're prepared to give us that authority, I can bring that to council in a nanosecond and I know what my decision would be, I would ban them yesterday and tomorrow and in the future, forever."