A man faces charges after his daughter was shot inside a northwest London home over the long weekend.
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London police responded Saturday around 4 p.m. to a home on Blanchard Crescent, northwest of Sarnia and Wonderland roads, after receiving a tip that a child had been shot inside the home earlier in the day, police said Tuesday.
Officers found evidence of gunfire and a seven-year-old child was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, police said.
Investigators seized a handgun, shotgun, imitation firearm, starter pistol and ammunition.
A 44-year-old London man is charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life, three counts of possession of a firearm contrary to a probation order and careless storage of a firearm or ammunition.
Police didn’t release the name of the accused, but court documents identify him as Michael Grebenchan. He appeared by video link in court Tuesday and was remanded into custody until his next appearance on Monday.
The injured child is Grebenchan’s daughter.
The girl, who is in Grade 2, was shot in the foot and remains in the hospital, her mother told CBC London News.
One Blanchard Crescent resident said their home surveillance system recorded between 10 and 12 gunshots ringing out around 11:15 a.m. on Saturday.
The footage also picked up “what sounds like a young voice crying for help,” said the neighbour, who asked not to be identified.
“It’s the sort of thing that if you weren’t outside, you wouldn’t have heard it . . . it’s pretty harrowing to realize that’s happening, like, 90 feet from you, and you just have no clue,” they said.
The weekend shooting – the city’s second case of gunfire this year – drew a large police presence in the neighbourhood west of Banting secondary school, where vehicles were parked at Wilfrid Jury public school.
Police initially said it was related to a weapons investigation and didn’t provide any additional details until Tuesday.
Last year there were 14 cases of gunfire in London, down from 28 the previous year.
With files from Free Press reporter Dale Carruthers