Attack at Kingston, Ont., homeless camp leaves three people with life-threatening injuries

Three victims have been taken to hospital as Kingston Police respond to a violent incident near Montreal Street’s encampment and Integrated Care Hub. 

Const. Anthony Colangeli said police were called to the area at about 10:30 a.m., where a single man had attacked three people. Colangeli said the victims’ injuries were life-threatening and they were rushed to Kingston General Hospital. 

“(The injuries) are consistent with injuries one would receive from an edged weapon and a blunt object,” Colangeli said at the scene.

Matt Mills, spokesperson for Frontenac Paramedics, confirmed their crews treated one woman and two men at the scene and transported them to the hospital in critical condition.

Police have the man cornered in a vacant lot on the west side of Montreal Street, just north of Quattrocchi’s Specialty Foods. Colangeli said police have learned the man’s name and will negotiate with him for as long as it takes for him to surrender peacefully. 

With the man contained, Colangeli said there was no risk to public safety but residents are asked to avoid the area.

Montreal Street has been closed between Hickson Avenue and Railway Street. Colangeli expected Montreal Street to be closed for an extended period. 

Access to the encampment has also been blocked off. A Kingston Transit bus was brought into the area to provide shelter. 

Staff at the Integrated Care Hub have locked down the building. Ted Robinson, Board chair of Trellis HIV and Community Care which operates the hub, said its staff were some of the first to respond and give first aid to the victims.

“They just did everything they could to support the people who were injured and the people who saw what was going on,” Robinson said.

He said their priority now is keeping their staff and those they serve as safe as possible. 

“It appears the ICH staff is doing a great job supporting their folks, from a police aspect right now, our focus is on ending this peacefully, then we can shift focus on to the victims and the community as a whole,” Colangeli said.

Colangeli said police are examining two to three different scenes where the attacks took place. Hub staff said two of the scenes were within the encampment, while a resident in the area witnessed one attack on Montreal Street where blood has stained the pavement. 

“The assaults took place in various locations, so we have a couple of scenes on the go in the area,” Colangeli said.

Linda McGinness, who lives north of the Integrated Care Hub, said that at about 10:44 a.m., she heard a commotion and scream outside her front door. Looking out she saw a woman who had been riding a push scooter had been struck in the head with a hammer. She was screaming and bleeding profusely before being given medical attention. 

A man with a dog was across the street yelling at her. 

“He kept saying, ‘I’m sick of these people,’” McGinness said. 

In a video provided to the Whig-Standard, another witness is heard yelling at the man, “You hit her with a hammer!”

Staff from the Integrate Care Hub ran over to help the woman as McGinness filmed the man before he ran into the bush across the street, she said.

McGinness explained the man with the dog is who is currently in negotiations with police, but he’s been screaming and swearing much of the time. Police did convince the man to hand his dog over to the police. 

“We never want to see this happen, but our goal right now is just to end this as peacefully as possible,” Colangeli said. He added later that he appreciates it is a very upsetting incident, and one nobody wants to see in their community.

“It’s an awful day,” Robinson said. “Our staff is feeling this quite intensely.” 

He said the staff at the Integrated Care Hub has undoubtedly been traumatized by what they’ve witnessed, but that the incident is isolated. 

“I just hope that people will not rush to any sort of judgment,” Robinson said. “We know what has been going on provincially, as far as places like the Integrated Care Hub, that have consumption treatment sites and that are centres for people who use substances, who are unhoused, and I just hope that people won’t rush to judgement, (assuming) that this horrible situation, is a reflection of that situation. Because that’s a much bigger, provincial, social, societal issue, and this is completely separate from that in my mind.” 

[email protected]

—with files from Elliot Ferguson, The Whig-Standard