A sad end to 30 bizarre, horrible hours in Toronto

Starting yesterday morning and moving on into today, Toronto has had a 30-hour period that can only be described as tragic and weird. We’ve already noted the anti-EDL scuffle where a police officer was injured, and the farce of the hastily written TTC budget. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the worst of the news over the past day and a bit. Here, a roundup of one of the strangest days we’ve ever seen in Toronto news.

• The morning started with the intersection of Yonge and Gerrard being shut down by police as they arrested a man reportedly driving with a gun—but then did not find the gun in the car.
• The day got weirder with the bomb scare—conveniently for the CBC, right outside the broadcast centre at John and Front Street. The police opened up suspicious-looking luggage to find…clothes.
• In Brampton, there was a school stabbing, mercifully without life-threatening injuries.
• After a controversy in which a Halton Catholic District School Board member compared support groups for gay kids to Nazis, and a meeting at which a trustee brought out the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Halton CDSB voted to at least re-examine its policy.
• Mississauga city council decided not to spend $10,000 on mayor Hazel McCallion’s 90th birthday, which isn’t scary or terrible but is kind of confusing—that was being seriously considered? We guarantee Toronto won’t be spending $5,000 on Rob Ford’s 45th.
• Later in the day, police tasered and arrested a man they suspected of owning the bomb-luggage from earlier, this time after detonating some more suspicious packages.
• Finally, this morning, a Toronto police officer—Sgt. Ryan Russell—was killed after being struck by a stolen snowplow, which combines both the bizarre and the horrible that had been the running themes for roughly the preceding 24 hours. Toronto police later arrested the suspect, who was taken to hospital.

In case anyone was wondering, it’s January 12th. It’s going to be a long, long 2011.

• Standoff on Yonge Street ends with arrest of two men [Globe and Mail]
• Arrest after 2 Toronto bomb scares [CBC News]
• Teen Taken To Hospital After Stabbing At Brampton High School [CP24]
• Halton Catholic policy and GSA ban remains in effect [Xtra]
• City pulls $10,000 offer for Hazel 90th bash [Toronto Star]
• Toronto policeman killed by stolen snowplow [CBC News]