News in Toronto for June 1996

Remember: ALL of the news items on this page are fictional. All persons, cities, gods, and worlds on this page are imaginary. Any coincidence of names is regretted.

A silent, terrified hush has fallen over the city of Toronto in the wake of what is being called ''The Murder of Toronto the Good". Last Sunday eulogies were read for the fallen in every church; memorial vigils have taken place every night since then, and thereis no sign of the dead being forgotten. City officials have joined in the sorrow, unable to justify to media or the grieving families how Toronto has descended into a state of chaos and terrorist warfare.

Police are as yet uncertain how the various events of Wednesday, May 23 are related. "lt's as though every bad thing that's been waiting to happen all decided to come out on one night" the head of the 14th division is reported as saying. Police are reframing from comment on whether the murders which took place around the city are effects of the terrorist assaults, or simply unrelated incidents.

Terrorists attacked the Shell Oil and Esso storage facilities in North York on Wednesday, May 22nd. There were several minor explosions, and the area within several blocks of Jane and Finch were evacuated.

On the way home from a family dinner celebrating the couple's 15th wedding anniversary on May 23rd, the MacGovern family was brutally murdered on a quiet suburban sidestreet. Neighbours who watched horrified were unable to explain how the event transpired, as the assailant vanished "almost before the deed was done". Police are unable to create a composite, as none of the witnesses had sufficient time to glimpse the murderer. James MacGovern 37, was a teacher at Three Elms Junior High; his wife Martha, 34, was a legal secretary for Crowell & Finch. Their two children, Susan and Jason (8 and 12) respectively, were also killed, leaving family and friends to mourn.

Staff at the Royal York Hotel are also in mourning, as early Thursday morning the bodies of Patrick Dupare and Randall Stewart were discovered stuffed into a storage closet on the 9th floor of the hotel. It had earlier been assumed by management that both had left early due to concern for their families, who live in North York. Police have not yet released details of the murders, stating only that there are suspicious links to the MacGovern and Flowers's cases. Patrick, 23, was a graphics design student at Ryerson, and is mourned by his fiancee Allison and family; Randall, a 21 year old fashion design student at George Brown, is fondly remembered by his boyfriend Mitchell and many family and friends.

CITY-TV mourned the loss of eleven staff members, and prayed for the four still in intensive care, with a day of darkness on air. All regular programming was pre-empted on Thursday by a black screen and silence. During the day, as they were reported, the names of those missing or dead in the disaster were written in white across the screen. The sorrow was felt and remembered around the nation as MuchMusic and Bravo followed suit. Gord Martineau, who is still resting after recovering from the assault, has announced his plans to adopt Sharon Reisse, orphaned with the death of her mother Catherine, a copywriter for CITY-TV.

A candlelight memorial for those killed during the horrendous attacks of last Wednesday is planned for Friday evening in front of the Metro Police Headquarters.

Two deranged psychopaths escaped the Queen Street Mental Health Institute Wednesday evening. Authorities said that they were doing their upmost to recapture these two unstable individuals.

Today, Moses Znaimer attended the opening of the third Atrium Restaurant at the Eaton Centre. He described it in a brief interview as "A breakthrough in experience, it almost brought me to tears. With all the technology hanging over our heads, it can sometimes be nice to feed from your roots." The Jewish restaurant specializes in Israeli delicacies (reservations are recommended). This coming only two days after the events that shook CITY-TV. Islamic fudamentalists are at present being blamed for the terrorist attack that left six dead and four wounded during a live air broadcast. Moses refused to comment, saying only that it was a "great tragedy". He hoped the individuals behind the attack would soon be arrested. The Chief of police said that with the aid of the new terrorist protection agency R.A.N.D., he expected to make arrests within days.

Moslem community groups have been thrown into chaos as the police start to make wide-ranging inquiries through all of Toronto to track down those responsible for the heinous crimes of the last few days. "R.A.N.D. has been formed solely to deal with these events" said Lieutenant Nathan Philips. "We now know who these terrorists are and we expect more arrests by the end of the week. R.A.N.D. is a pro-reactionary task force designed to protect the honest citizens of Toronto from further harm. We are working closely with INTERPOL and the CIA to ensure that we wipe the slate clean once and for all of these so called terrorists." said Philips.

"We do not live in a country that can be ruled by the guns of cowards" said Prime Minister Chrétien from the floor of the House of Commons. A Parliamentary vote which passed second reading today will give 'carte blanche' to the new task force R.A.N.D. in its dealings within Ontario.

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