Toronto endured another violent weekend as three slayings — one shooting and two stabbings — pushed the city’s homicide toll to 63 for the year.

That’s just three fewer than were recorded all of last year and nearly twice the number seen by this point in 2017. The Yonge St. van attack in April accounted for 10 of this year’s homicides, but shooting and stabbing deaths are both on the rise compared to recent years, putting the city on pace for its most homicides since 2007, when 86 people were killed.

Crime is poised to be a key issue in the upcoming municipal election, but experts caution against simply comparing statistics from one year to another without taking a broader look at longer-term trends. Overall crime in the city has declined in the last decade, but the recent spike has drawn considerable attention and comparisons to 2005’s “Summer of the Gun.”

That year there were 53 shooting deaths and 80 homicides overall. Since then, the number of fatal shootings has trended downwards, reaching a low of 22 in 2013 before spiking in 2016 and 2017, when there were 41 and 39 shooting deaths, respectively. There have been 32 so far this year.

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But while the number of fatal shootings is up this year, the number of shootings in total is about the same as last year and lower than it was at this time in 2016.

Still, politicians have been looking for ways to address the problem, primarily by investing in police.

“These things often happen in spikes,” Mayor John Tory said while campaigning at a South Asian Autism Walk on Sunday morning. Tory said he is working with all levels of government “at maximum speed” to reduce gun violence and provide resources to police “so that they can make sure that they fight violence in any form.”

Tory reiterated his plan to match the $25 million in funds the province recently committed to help combat the escalating violence on Toronto’s streets, but he balked at Premier Doug Ford’s suggestion, relayed in an open letter, that he use Monday’s special council meeting — called specifically to discuss how the city should respond to Ford’s decision to cut the number of councillors in half — to instead address gun violence. Council rules require that special meetings only be used to discuss the issue for which they were called.

Despite their disagreement, Tory said he and Ford are on the same page when it comes to addressing crime in the city.

“I’ve spoken to the Premier,” Tory said Sunday, “and the important thing that we’re doing is that we are acting together. I will just say that the tone of the conversation that we had about this, in the last 24 hours, was very positive.”

The weekend’s violence began Saturday evening in the Kipling Ave. and Dixon Rd. area of Etobicoke, where a 31-year-old man is alleged to have fatally stabbed his 84-year-old grandmother and injuring her 32-year-old caregiver. The caregiver fled from the house and ran to a nearby plaza, where bystanders called 911. The woman, who witnesses said was “covered in blood” and screaming for help, was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries. Her condition was later upgraded to stable.

Michael Colastosti has been charged with first-degree murder in the woman’s death.

Later the same evening, one man died and a teenager was sent to hospital with life-threatening injuries after a double stabbing near Sherway Gardens Mall. Police have not released any information about the suspect.

Lastly, a man in his 20s was killed in an early-morning shooting at a Toronto Community Housing building at 501 Adelaide St. E. Police said he was found dead in a common area of the fourth floor shortly after 2 a.m. with a gunshot wound in his upper body.

A man who lives in the building described the incident, which he said happened just outside his apartment.

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“It was literally right in front of my door,” said Kevin, 23, who didn’t want to give his last name. “I couldn’t sleep last night, so I was watching a movie until about 1:30 (a.m.) and when I got into bed around 2 a.m., that’s when I heard two big bang sounds. I thought it was just kids playing pranks late at night, but less than five minutes later I heard police sirens and out my window, I heard cops saying ‘Put your hands up.’”

Police said they have not arrested a suspect. They are looking for a white man who was wearing a black jacket, black hoodie, black pants and a black baseball cap.

Kevin says when he left his apartment Sunday morning, the body was still in the hallway as police investigated the scene.

Last month, in an effort to stem the rising tide of gun violence in the city, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders and Tory together announced a $3-million plan to place 200 extra officers throughout the city at times when shootings were more likely to occur. The program is currently scheduled to conclude after eight weeks.

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