Toronto's tow truck arson wars continue as a burned-out tow truck from Above Towing, sits in the parking lot of a funeral home at 10366 Yonge Street in Richmond Hill, Ont., on March 6, 2020.Eight people have been charged in connection with an assassination attempt outside a Thornhill plaza one year ago, as part of a towing industry turf war that continues to play out across the Greater Toronto Area.
At the time, a tow truck taped off by police at the crime scene was one of the only clues that the case was connected to a turf war brewing within the towing industry. On Friday, York Regional Police Detective Sergeant David Sedgewick said police can now confirm that they “believe that this [case] was part of the ongoing tow-truck industry power struggle, to realign the zones.
“This shooting took place at one of the most populous malls in York Region, right in the parking lot of Promenade Mall. So the likelihood or the chance that a bystander would have been struck during this is very real,” Det. Sgt. Sedgewick said Friday. Asked about what links can be drawn between those two specific cases, Det. Sgt. Sedgewick said that alliances within the industry are fluid.