Yesterday my team and I took the day off to go down to the Toronto Raptors parade celebrations. A crazy celebration shared with a reported 2 million plus of my NBA Finals Championship colleagues.

Waiting 24 years, and having one team to rally a country, is a sight that to be honest is something to be really proud of.

The parade was to run a route approximately 4km in length, ending with the players joining the core of the fans waiting in Nathans Phillips Square. For those not familiar with Toronto, this is where our City Hall is. It is clear the city planning for blocking off the parade route was not efficient enough. Resulting in a heavily delayed parade as the day went on. Supposedly the parade was to arrive in the square around 12:30 pm, instead, they were roughly 3+ hours delayed. People had been camped out in the square from the night before, with an impressive turn out early in the morning looking to get a glimpse of the on-stage action. I bring all this up not to criticize the city planning, but to set the stage for your mind to visualize the population density. Imagine all the outdoor concerts you have been to or seen on TV, all at the same time. That is what Toronto felt like yesterday.

https://torontolife.com/city/toronto-sports/timelapse-video-captures-throng-core-raptors-victory-parade/

The Sun was shining and the day was great, except for the lack of access to any water. So after we arrived to the square at 9:30am, we expected the parade to arrive at 12:30. Instead, it wasn’t until about 3:30 pm or so that anything started happening. People were happy to wait, but 6 hours of standing in the sun with no water is a heavy request. We were standing to the left of the square, behind a TV showing all the days events. The stage had finally been filled, and speeches had finally just begun.

In one synchronous motion, as far as I can see left and right, a wave of people turn around with panic/horror on their faces and start screaming and sprinting straight at me.

I was with 6 people, as the first wave hit I instantly lost 5/6, seeing one of my colleagues getting pushed with back along the same side as me. As does with the ocean the wave receded slightly, just long enough to turn and get moving in the right direction. Then the wave hit again and that was the last I saw my colleague, he too disappeared into the abyss of people frantically screaming and running.

I was pushed up into a corridor right against Osgoode Hall, a building that is adjacent to the square. Running down the narrow street (Osgoode Ln) meant staying in the stampede with people dropping everywhere. I didn’t want to chance it. Instead, I hid behind a column and then tried to assess the situation and find my colleagues. I had a vantage point over the crowd and could see people running but not from what, and people were yelling shots fired, gun, knife, stabbing, etc. People were being trampled with people helping where they could, children were lost and all the while we still were not certain why we were running.

The show must go on as they say. The population was so dense, it did not feel like the urgency of the situation had quite reached those on stage. And it was confusing to not know if it was real or someone being an asshole, but the fear was real. The fear calmed down a bit roughly a minute later, and initially, the consensus was it was maybe a joke. Especially since the rally continued on. I got in touch with my first 3 colleagues and they had escaped into the building, the other 2 had made it out all the way out of the square and the 6th was still missing. Phone calls were dead. Data was sparse.

We started to come out from hiding when a second wave full hit full on again. All the madness rehashed out for another go. This was no joke, get the fuck out.

Still, the show continued as we ran with the heard out of the square and onto University Ave. 4–5 minutes into this now, and thankfully the Toronto Police confirmed with a Twitter post there had in fact been a shooting in the square. Finally, our last colleague checked in, and we left the area for good.

https://www.blogto.com/city/2019/06/raptors-nathan-phillips-square-shooting-toronto/

I am very fortunate nothing was shot around me, and we all were thankful to leave. The reason I decided to write this post, is I am in a position to do more about this, so I will.

What I am keen to hear, is other peoples stories from yesterday or from other public safety related incidences to help understand how to help keep people connected when these situations occur. Please leave a comment here or drop me an email at drew@seamtechnic.com and let me know. Go Raptors.