The anger and frustration of an anguished mother were palpable outside a meeting near Jane St. and Falstaff Ave. where her 16-year-old son, Hanad Abdullahi Ali, was shot dead last week.

“I don’t know why they killed my son. They killed an innocent child,” Hodan Abdullahi Ali said.

“He loved his brothers. He listened to me. He loved to play,” she said about her son.

“Every time I come home and see the stairs where he died, I’m shaking.”

In his opening remarks, Toronto Community Housing CEO Kevin Marshman told a packed room of residents that, starting in September, there will be full-time community safety unit officers stationed in — and engaging with — the community.

In addition, he promised to improve safety measures by adding cameras and improving lighting in and around the community.

The two promises prompted immediate applause and “thank you” responses from the audience, but as the meeting went on, residents expressed disappointment in how police and security organizations have treated the community in the past.

“We see you but we don’t feel your presence,” resident Jennifer Boahen told Toronto Police chief Mark Saunders and other officials at the meeting. She said most residents don’t feel comfortable seeing officers around because those officers don’t try to connect with the community, only being there as controllers.

“It is unfortunate that it took the life of Hanad for this meeting to take place. We lost a brother. This is not something to be taken lightly.”

Boahen’s comments sparked emotions from the audience, members of a community around a trio of Toronto Community Housing buildings on Falstaff Ave. At one point Hodan came over to hug her and wipe her tears as she spoke. Many in the audience sobbed through subsequent speeches and questions.

Related: Violent weekend in Toronto draws attention to missed opportunities to make city safer

Hodan’s sister Fadouma Alibarre who travelled from Columbus, Ohio for the funeral this past week, said it’s still tough for her sister to accept the reality of this tragedy. She said Hodan was on the balcony trying to call her son to come home when she heard the shots.

“She still says she feels every bullet in her heart,” she said about her sister, who she said was not allowed to see the body until after the autopsy.

She had last seen her nephew last year, and described him as just a young man who was trying to find his place in life.

“He loved sports, every sport. And he’d be saying, ‘I want to be a doctor, I want to be a police officer, I want to be a pilot.’ Just like any other kid’s dreams,” Alibarre said.

Saunders agreed police officers need to improve how they approach community policing, and emphasized the need to partner with community members to find sustainable solutions to violence.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“This hurts me too. If we don’t have that trust, we have failed,” he said.

“People are not born gangsters, they become gangsters.”

Saunders —who clarified the Tuesday meeting was planned by area councillor Frances Nunziata only as a community housing meeting, before last week’s shooting — pleaded with residents for cooperation. He specifically asked for tips whenever residents know information about guns in their community, so that police can act before violence occurs.

“If we don’t know, we are reacting. I don’t want to react,” Saunders told residents. “I ask you to work with us to get this right... before a crime is committed.”

Ayan Yusuf, a resident in the neighbourhood, said most of the issues can be resolved through simple police patrolling as well as better relationships between security officers and the community.

She said she and other mothers used to hold “Ladies tea and talk” meetings, where they would share information about what is happening in the community. Those with tips on suspicious activities would write them down anonymously, put them in a box and the police would read them and follow up afterwards.

“It helped. Officers would know who lives here and who’s trespassing,” she said.

“Now our community is like a hangout place for people who don’t live here, and if you bother them you’re in trouble. We are so disappointed.”

That feeling of “strangers” hanging out in the neighbourhood is what has been worrying Gail Innis, who says she’s lived at one of the three buildings for the last 30 years. She said she gets especially worried when any of her two sons has to go out late.

“It’s scary and it can feel very dangerous around here,” she said, noting some areas are very dark, like in the underground parking, and in the back entrance of the buildings.

“Sometimes elevators aren’t working either, so you fear getting trapped.”

Read more about: