Vol. 77/No. 30      August 19, 2013

Forcillo fatally shot Yatim on a Toronto Transit Commission streetcar after passengers said he had ordered them to leave the car while brandishing a small knife.

Yatim’s death sparked outrage across the city and around the country after a video of the killing taken by a passerby hit the Internet. The video shows Yatim alone, standing in the aisle near the front of the streetcar as five cops order him to drop his knife. Fourteen seconds later Forcillo fires nine shots at Yatim in 12 seconds. Another video taken from a nearby security store camera released to the public shows Yatim crumpling to the floor after the first three bullets are fired, his legs still moving. It then shows Forcillo firing six rounds at Yatim.

Yatim, who moved to Toronto from Syria five years ago to live with his father, was planning to start college in the fall. His mother, a pediatrician in Syria, was in Toronto at the time of the killing. She and other family members took part in the demonstration wearing T-shirts that said, “Protect us from our protectors” with a picture of Yatim underneath.

Militant supporter Gabriel Charbin and his coworker Matt Murphy at the Brampton Chrysler auto assembly plant joined the demonstration after work. “We saw it on TV and decided to go,” said Charbin. “It’s important to react to this. There is a pattern to what the police do. We have to hold them accountable.”

Constable Forcillo has been suspended with pay while Ontario’s Special Investigation Unit carries out an inquiry.

Another “Justice for Sammy” demonstration has been called for Aug. 13 at the next scheduled Police Services Board meeting.  
 
 
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