'Senseless' Gunman in city's 1st killing in 2020 shot the wrong person

The men who killed David Stevens on Jan. 29, police say,got the wrong guy.

Detectives from the major crime unit now believe at leastthree male suspectstargeted the wrong address.

"Inthis instance where the victim is completely innocent and has got no connection other than being at the residence where it was supposed to be safe, it heightens the level of senselessness," Staff Sgt. Peter Thom tells CBC News.

"These individuals may have bragged about what they may have done. They're bragging about killing an innocent man."

Thom saysdetectives believe they know who the real target was and have madethem aware of the situation.

Officers arrived ata rooming house on Harvey Street around 11:30 p.m. and found Stevens, 46,suffering from a gunshot wound.

Thom says most of the rooms were occupied.

First responders started CPR and Stevens was transported to hospital where he waspronounceddead.

Investigators and members of the victims services team traveled out of town to tell Stevens' family the news.

Police say thethree men who killed Stevens had no connection to him.

They wereall wearing dark clothing, and police say one of them used a firearm.

Police still haven't tracked down the gun and Thom thinks there's a chance the group could try and killthe real target again.

The group sped off in what police describe asafour-door 2015 or older Chevrolet Cruze, silver or grey in colour, with no sunroof.

It was last seen travelling southbound on Birch Avenue and turning eastbound on Wilson Street just after 11:35 p.m. that night.

Thom says they have a fair amount of video evidence from the area.

But the major crime unit and team of five detectives assigned to the caseare "confident" they'll catch the suspects andrecommendthe three men, "particularly the two non-shooters, seek legal advice and turn themselves in to police to explain how an innocent man became a murder victim."

Thom saysdetectivesreached out to who they think were the targets and made them aware of the situation.

He adds officers have a theory as to why the shooting took place, but can't reveal that with an ongoing investigation.

This is the fourth shooting in Hamilton this year and comes after anothercase ofmistakenidentity which involved an innocentseven-year-old boy.

Detectives are still searching for thetwo suspects involved in a botchedtargeted shooting that left theboy with multiple bullet wounds.

Thom says the cases aren't connected.

Councillor 'frustrated' by lack of task force

Ward 9 Coun.Brad Clark (Upper Stoney Creek)tells CBCNews some councillors are talking about what more the city can do in the wake of two unintended shooting victims but says he's not sure how the city will respond especially after Hamilton police ended theMake Safe task force aimed at taking on gun violence in 2019.

"I just find it troubling we've had so many shootings and innocent people are getting hurt and killed," he says.

"There should be more of apublic attention paid to it, there should bemore attention paid to it from police ...I find it frustrating, especially when other police forces in the province are launching task forces to deal with gun violence."

Clark expressed the same concerns at a city council meeting in late January, calling out a lack of focus on gun crimewhen police presented their 2020 budget.

"In a 12 to 15 minutes presentation, the police chief didn't speak about shootings or gun violence once," he says.

"The gun violence, which seems to be the most pressing problem in our community for many, many people, wasn't addressed."

Girt said the issuewas not just a Hamilton problem, noting the service has officers dedicated to dealing with gun crimes.

"To say alocalized task force will do it alone is not accurate," he said.

Thom says all crimes put the civilians in danger.

"With any firearm incident, there's a risk to the public and that's why we want to wrap this up and get the gun off the street."