Cops left their gun behind after raid, woman says
ALL SMILING FOR THE CAMERA!
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..Taimone Moore, 19, sits with his mother Hyacinth inside their Scarborough apartment on Thursday. They say the Toronto Police Gun and Gang Task Force forgot one of its loaded shotguns, leaving it behind on a teenager's bed during a an Aug. 11 raid. (VERONICA HENRI/Toronto Sun).. .. .. .. .. .. TORONTO - It was by no means the first time Toronto Police executed a search warrant at Hyacinth Moore's apartment.
..Taimone Moore, 19, sits with his mother Hyacinth inside their Scarborough apartment on Thursday. They say the Toronto Police Gun and Gang Task Force forgot one of its loaded shotguns, leaving it behind on a teenager's bed during a an Aug. 11 raid. (VERONICA HENRI/Toronto Sun).. .. .. .. .. .. TORONTO - It was by no means the first time Toronto Police executed a search warrant at Hyacinth Moore's apartment.But it was a first time officers allegedly left behind one of their shotguns in the Aug. 11 raid.
The single mother has three sons, all of whom are known to police.
A fourth, Andre Moore, died in 2008 when he was 27 of gunshot wounds and had a long and involved history with law enforcement going back to 1997. Another son, Jerome, 27, was recently convicted after stealing a vehicle from a dealership and is currently in prison.
Police regularly make visits to her address and she's been the subject of umpteen search warrants for the past 10 years. Indeed, her Eglinton Ave.-McCowan Rd. area building has been the focus of police attention, as police attended four separate incidents there that day.
But she'd never seen a police search like the one at her home that day.
This time, after "destroying" her apartment, one of the six plainclothes officers left behind the loaded weapon.
Accidentally.
It was Hyacinth who called called 911 to let police know they forgot something.
Uniform officers didn't respond to the call, but the officers who raided the apartment did, she said.
Hyacinth said she took a photograph of the shotgun lying on her son's bed but she refused to show it to a reporter.
She says in all her years dealing with the police, she's never seen them react so quickly.
"They were at my house in less than five minutes to get the gun back," Hyacinth said.
It was the same plainclothes officers who swiftly returned to retrieve the firearm, and she doesn't believe the officer who left the loaded gun behind reported the event, which police say would have resulted in termination of employment.
Plainclothes officers from the Gun and Gang Task Force showed up at her place to execute the search warrant, although available documents don't specify what they were looking for and the warrant has since been sealed by the courts.
"This apartment is known to have lots of firearms," Det.-Sgt. Steve Foden of 43 Division says. "The last one before this was, let's see. March 11, 2011, a call for firearms, mischief, weapons."
There are records of Moore's 911 call, but police say no officer reported leaving a gun behind — ever.
"Seems to me (Moore's sons) live a high-risk lifestyle and that she is a mother trying to protect her children," Det.-Sgt. Scott Spratt of the Gun and Gang Task Force says. "We take this seriously. We're professionals."
Although neither admits to having heard of the shotgun being left behind at any incident, both Foden and Spratt reluctantly admit it is possible an officer could have done it and not reported it.
It seems to Hyacinth the police are being equally protective of their own.
"It's in their interest not to admit they left a loaded shotgun in my son's room," she said.
