At about 4 a.m. Saturday police were called to Queen Street North and Western Avenue just south of the Tim Hortons and Dairy Queen where they found 16-year-old Connor Kee lying on the ground, suffering from stab wounds.
Connor was walking on Queen Street with a few friends, when they passed another group of teens. The two groups got into an argument, and Kee punched one of the other teens, said Doug Kee, Connor's father.
As Connor and his friends were walking away, another youth came up behind him and stabbed him twice in the chest, missing his heart by only an inch.
The knife punctured a lung, and severed three arteries. He lost about 60 per cent of his blood, according to his father
Initial reports from police described the wounds only as "non-life threatening."
Connor's lung was re-inflated at Stevenson Memorial Hospital, but he was transferred to Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket for emergency surgery to stop the bleeding. He was released yesterday (Tuesday) morning.
"If it wasn't for someone on the street doing chest compression, we would have lost him," said Kee. "I don't know who it was, but I'd like to know because I'd like to thank them."
Police said the suspects fled the scene on foot, but the Central Region Emergency Response Team and canine units were unable to find them.
Kee said his son did not know his attacker.
Officers were at the scene until 9 a.m. The Nottawasaga Crime Unit is investigating, and arrests are pending, according to Staff Sgt. Dirk Cockburn. In fact, police had been anticipating arrests to be made yesterday (Tuesday).
Kee said he is not sure why his son was out so late at night, but said it is not typical for him, and that he intends to address it after Connor recovers.
For Kee, the incident is the latest in a string of violence he says is taking over Tottenham, and one that obviously touches close to home. He said he has received a lot of support from the community, and that a lot of people are getting impatient with the police to put an end to the crime.
"We moved to Tottenham to get the hell out of the city.
"We moved here seven years ago, and just in the last two years it has gotten out of hand. The kids in town just think that they can run the place. There are numerous people that have talked about putting together a community watch group. I've heard more than once, that we have to take back our community," he said.
Kee said it is nearly reaching a boiling point in the community, and that unless police step up patrols and have a more visible presence, they risk the community taking justice into its own hands. The stabbing come only six weeks after three men, including New Tecumseth Deputy Fire Chief Shawn Sweeney, were beaten up in the Tottenham Mall parking lot. There have been no arrests in that incident.
Cockburn said Tottenham residents shouldn't worry about Saturday's stabbing.
"It wasn't a random act of violence, and police are following up. This is not something that the community as a whole has to worry about," he said.
Police would not release any other information on the incident.
Anyone with information should call police at 1-888-310-1122, or Crime Stoppers at 1-888-222-8477 (TIPS). Crime Stoppers is anonymous and doesn't subscribe to call display. Callers could be eligible for a cash reward.
