On July 22, 2018, a lone man walked through the summer night in the Greektown area of Canada’s largest city and randomly began shooting pedestrians and firing into crowded restaurants.
Before he was done, two people were dead and 13 others were wounded.
After a shootout with Toronto police, Faisal Hussain turned the weapon, a Smith & Wesson M&P40 semi-automatic pistol, on himself and committed suicide.
On Monday, family members of victims of the shooting filed a class-action lawsuit in Ontario Superior Court, seeking $50 million in general damages and $100 million in punitive damages.
This Smith & Wesson .40 calibre handgun, with two full magazines and a magazine holder, was found against the wall of the Danforth Church on Bowden Street in Toronto on July 22, 2018. It was the weapon used in the Danforth shooting. (Special Investigations Unit)
Among other things, the lawsuit contends that Smith & Wesson failed to install smart technology in the weapon that would have prevented unauthorized use of it and that it was reasonably foreseeable that the gun might have been used to kill or injure third parties.
Smith & Wesson, based in Springfield, Mass., has not responded to requests for comment from Canadian media.
Hussain killed Reese Fallon, 18 and Juliana Kozis, 10, in the shooting.
Ken Price, whose daughter Samantha was wounded in the shooting, says the lawsuit was filed on behalf of all victims directly and indirectly affected that night.
Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders called the Danforth shooting ‘incredibly brutal.’ (Cole Burston/Getty Images)
“We believe that they had available smart gun technology that, if implemented, would have been a deterrent to the incident that occurred, ” Price told CBC News’ Muriel Draaisma.
“That’s what we are trying to shine a light on, to focus not only on the shooter, which we often talk about in gun policy, but also to start a conversation around the role of manufacturers and infrastructure providers to make sure things are as safe as possible.”
The suit cites a 2000 agreement between Smith & Wesson and the U.S. government in which the manufacturer said it would incorporate smart gun technology in new firearms designs by 2003.
The suit says that despite the agreement, when Smith & Wesson introduced the M&P 40 series in 2005, it did not include smart gun technology.
A woman writes a message on a makeshift memorial remembering the victims of a shooting on Sunday evening on Danforth Avenue, in Toronto on July 24, 2018. (Mark Blinch/Canadian Press)
Police have said they do not know where Hussain, 29, who had a long history of mental health problems, obtained the gun or what motivated him.
With files from CBC News (Muriel Draaisma), CP, CP24 (Joshua Freeman), Global News (Nick Westoll)
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