Christopher Husbands, 23, worked at Stan Wadlow Clubhouse’s after-school recreation care program in East York up until two weeks before a man opened fire on a crowded Eaton Centre food court, killing one and injuring seven others, including a 13-year-old boy who was shot in the head.
Husbands, who turned himself in to police on Monday, worked for the centre’s after-school program — described by the City of Toronto as “safe, affordable child care for children ages six to 12” — for about six months until May 18.
At the time of the shooting, Husbands was out on $4,000 bail and under house arrest for an outstanding 2010 sex assault charge.
Hours after his son’s arrest on Monday, Burchell Husbands told the Star that his son began having brushes with the law in his mid-teens. The 23-year-old has faced numerous charges since moving out of his family’s Regent Park home on his 18th birthday, his father said.
City spokeswoman Jackie DeSouza refused to say whether the city was aware of Husbands’s criminal history when he was hired last November or why his employment ended on May 18, but “it’s obviously very troubling to all of us,” she said.
DeSouza said there are no legislated requirements within the city’s parks and recreation department that job applicants submit criminal reference checks before they begin work. Instead, city policy requires that applicants begin obtaining a police reference check when they begin their employment and results can take “up to three months,” she said.
After learning that a former childcare employee had been arrested in connection with the Eaton Centre shooting, DeSouza said the city plans to investigate and “do a comprehensive policy review.”
The City of Toronto also sent a memo to Stan Wadlow Clubhouse staff and parents on Tuesday, notifying them that a city review found no indication that child safety had been compromised.
Parents, children and staff at the centre have been offered access to counselling and support services, DeSouza said.
With files from Jennifer Pagliaro
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