Pubdate: Sat, 27 Aug 2005
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2005 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Adrian Humphreys

SLAIN FATHER HAD 'TURNED HIS LIFE AROUND'

Delroy Daring Had Criminal Past, But Spoke Out Against Guns, Friends
Say

Two weeks ago, Delroy George Daring, 41, stood with a microphone
during a community barbecue at an apartment building in a high-crime
area of Toronto and, his friends say, took a pointed swipe at young
gangsters whose gunplay had rattled their community: "We are against
guns, we are against violence."

Now, after he was shot and killed on Thursday evening on the same
basketball court where he helped host the Stop-the-Violence barbecue
- -- in the courtyard of a highrise where he grew up --friends and
family of the 41-year-old father wonder if his words were too much for
some.

"He was the type of guy who would tell kids -- right to their faces --
that if he sees any guns around here he'll call police. He would tell
them not to bring guns around here," said a long-time friend of Mr.
Daring's.

"A lot of people wouldn't want to hear that."

Mr. Daring was just the latest in a string of gunshot victims in
Toronto this summer. Shooting deaths number 32 since the start of the
year -- a total that already surpasses the 27 killed by gunfire in
2004.

Thursday night's violence -- police say Mr. Daring was shot after an
altercation with another man -- has drawn a strong reaction from local
residents fed up with the bloodshed.

Even the city's Mayor made a point of condemning the latest shooting
death.

"I share the feelings of disgust that all of us have for this cowardly
crime," said David Miller.

"Criminals will not intimidate the citizens of Toronto. Acts such as
this strengthen the resolve of everyone to ensure Toronto maintains
safe neighbourhoods."

Mr. Daring was a well-known and popular man in the Scarborough
neighbourhood where he often hung out and is better known by his
nickname, Spoogle. He is a father to 10 children, who range in age
from late teenagers to toddlers -- the youngest of which is a boy who
is his spitting image, friends said.

He is also a man with a criminal past. He was once involved in the
drug trade, police sources say.

"He's not an organized criminal, I wouldn't even lump him into the
street gang spectrum, but he has a history and that history revolves
around illicit activity -- buying and selling. There is a conviction
in there for violence but it isn't a serious violent crime," a police
source said.

Another source, who has a keen knowledge of the apartment complex,
questioned Mr. Daring's sincerity in his tough-on-crime talk.

"It's common in some neighbourhoods for people who are on the dark
side to do the Snoop Dog thing and run an event," the source said,
referring to the barbeque, which was not a sanctioned event of the
Toronto Community Housing Corporation, which owns the building. "It
has nothing to do with stop the violence. It's flavour of the month."

As for Mr. Daring, the source said: "He has been done for assaulting
police and/or security. He is well-known to law enforcement. We are
aware that he had previous difficulties with his associates."

Some say that past gave him credibility on the street to steer young
people away from a life of crime; others say that life may have
finally caught up with him.

"He turned his life around, a complete 180-degree turn," said Mr.
Daring's wife, who declined to give her name.

"That is why people keep saying he was anti-gun and anti-gang
violence. That is what he does now," she said from her home in
Pickering, Ont.

She dismissed questions over her husband's past.

"He's gone and whoever wants to form an opinion, can. Whoever wants to
speak the truth, can.

"What's the point wasting time investigating him when he's dead? He's
gone. There is no point investigating him, it should be a matter of
investigating what happened. It don't matter what he was, what he is,
what he wasn't. What matters is he's gone.

"He was a man, a father, a brother, a husband, an uncle, a cousin, a
nephew, a human being," she said.

"That is what's important."

A close friend agreed.

"He had his troubles. I know he has a criminal record. But that was a
thing of the past," said Mike, who, like most people interviewed,
declined to provide his last name.

"He was a man. He wasn't a saint. But even in his bad life, he wasn't
running around hurting people. If they're trying to make him out to be
like a gangsta, they're wrong. He was doing what he had to do to feed
his family. I'd call it petty crime."

He has since spent his energy telling kids to stay away from gangs,
guns and drugs, he said.

"We were like family when he first moved to this country from Jamaica.
My mom cooked him his first meal when he came here," said Mike.

"He was sincere. He's part of an organization that was anti-gun and
anti-violence and anti-drug."

Several women gathered outside the apartment, yesterday, praised Mr.
Daring for his efforts at being a good role model for the children.

People living in the building and some who used to live there started
the barbeque four years ago, friends said.

After looking for money elsewhere -- "everyone turned us down," said
one of the organizers -- they paid for it all themselves. Picking a
name for their group then became easy: the Out of Our Pockets
Organization.

"He gave away a pair of soccer shoes at the barbeque, he gave out a
basketball. There were relay races and races for the kids, there was a
dance, music," said a woman who helped run it.

"We didn't have the money to do what we wanted to do. We wanted a live
band and stuff. But we did what we could, all out of our own pockets,"
said Mike.

"We had 1,000 hotdogs and hamburgers. He had chicken, Chubbies,
Jammers -- everything the kids wanted. Three-legged races, dancing."

Police are continuing their investigation by canvassing the
neighbourhood, gathering forensic evidence from the scene and looking
for tips from neighbours and witnesses. They are also looking at video
tape from surveillance cameras.

Although the gunshot wounds on Mr. Daring's body were obvious when he
was taken to Sunnybrook hospital where he was pronounced dead, his
official cause of death will not be known until today, following an
autopsy.

As police were working behind yellow crime scene tape at the
apartment, residents and friends milled out front, vowing that the
barbecue must continue.

"We need to continue that barbeque. We can't let them stop us. They
can't stop it," said a woman.

"It would be like we were giving up. We need to keep it up, keep
trying to do something. We won't give up."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin