http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20070528/ca_pr_on_na/high_school_shooting;_ylt=Aidfzv44aclV75XYvDilC7.kz3wVPETER CAMERON May 27, 2007 10:08 pm
TORONTO (CP) - Two 17-year-olds are charged with murder in a shooting at a north-end school that left a boy dead and prompted calls for tighter gun controls and better security at city schools.
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The teens, who can't be identified under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, were charged Sunday with first-degree murder in last Wednesday's slaying of Jordan Manners, 15, at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute.
One of the teens was arrested Sunday, police said.
The second surrendered to police Sunday night after a judicial order allowed distribution of his name and photograph.
Manners' family declined to comment on the arrests.
"We have no comment for the press right now," a woman who identified herself as the boy's aunt said Sunday evening. "The police have not spoken to us - we do not know anything."
Manners, a Grade 9 student, was shot and killed in a hallway at C.W. Jefferys, a school located near the Jane-Finch corridor, an area of Toronto noted for years for its high crime rate.
Unconfirmed reports have indicated there was a fight outside and that Manners was followed into the school.
Police were scheduled to hold a news conference Monday to release more details of the case.
The day after the shooting, Ontario politicians were calling on the federal government to get tough on handguns.
"We have seen too many shootings result in too many funerals for our young people," Premier Dalton McGuinty wrote Thursday in an open letter to federal party leaders, urging them to push through proposed criminal justice legislation and implement a "real ban" on handguns.
Handguns are already severely restricted in Canada, and a handgun registry has been in force for more than 60 years.
The value of allowing handgun collections should be reconsidered, said Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant.
Toronto Mayor David Miller called for an outright ban and recommended that handgun regulation should become an international issue.
Miller said the two sources of handguns in Canada are guns stolen from collectors and guns that come from the U.S.
Miller called on the U.S. has to take some real steps, or such tragedies would continue to happen.
The shooting also saw the finger of blame pointed at lax school security.
The Toronto District School Board doesn't intend to install metal detectors, board assistant superintendent Donna Quan said Thursday.
Metal detectors aren't foolproof, and students can bypass them by taking different doors, she said.
C.W. Jefferys is already on a list of Toronto schools scheduled to have security cameras installed.
Of the 109 high schools in the Toronto District School Board, 65 have security cameras.
Board trustee Stephanie Payne said Thursday such incidents will happen anyway, "whether there are cameras or not."
Manners' friends and family gathered at a park near his home on Saturday to pay tribute to the gifted arts student.
In addition to the music and food, there was also a small donation box to raise funds for the boy's funeral.
A service is scheduled for Thursday at 11 a.m. at the Christian Centre Church in Toronto.
