The number of shootings in Windsor so far in 2023 is equal to the number of shootings investigated in 2022.
The Windsor Police Service has investigated 11 targeted shootings so far this year, the same number as last year.
While one shooting resulted in a homicide in 2022, there have been no fatal shootings in Windsor in 2023, with a few weeks to go until the end of the year.
Staff Sgt. Dave Tennent with the Windsor Police Service Major Crimes Unit says a lot of the incidents are drug related.
"An altercation happens during a some sort of drug transaction and a firearm or a weapon is brandished, a firearm is discharged and someone gets hit. So when we say targeted, it's not random," he says.
The most recent shooting happend on Dec. 2, at a home in the 200 block of Giles Boulevard West, not far from Ouellette Avenue, where a 32-year-old male and 35-year-old female suffered gunshot wounds. A 20-year-old suspect was arrested on Dec. 9.
Once an investigation begins, police work quickly to gather a much information as possible to identiy a suspect to make an arrest.
Staff Sgt. Tennent notes that their investigations have been aided by the City of Windsor's Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) camera system, allowing officers to gather more information and provide images to the public to quickly.
"We have a great relationship with them. Within an hour we can get footage and they just send us a link. We're able to get those images out to the public and quickly identify suspects, vehicles and things like that," he says.
Windsor has around 80 traffic cameras in place across the city, which are utilized by both the Windsor Police Service and City of Windsor traffic management. Additional cameras are being added as a result of grant funding from the province to assist municipalities in improving or expanding their CCTV systems.
(Michal Oska/iStock)
Tennent says the Drugs and Guns Unit does such a good job of seizing firearms during the course of their investigations and that prevents those firearms from being used sometime in the future.
He says Windsor still is a safe city to live.
"We do a great job at knowing who has these guns and we've prevented a lot more incidents than obviously what happens," he says. "We have a great Guns and Drugs Unit, we have great intelligence units. We're able to prevent those crimes before they're happening, so I think Windsor is an excellent place to live and a very safe community."