A popular Toronto YouTuber has distanced his basketball event at a south London elementary school from a nearby stabbing that sent two teenagers to hospital with serious injuries.
A popular Toronto YouTuber has distanced his basketball event at a south London elementary school from a nearby stabbing that sent two teenagers to hospital with serious injuries.
But London police say the individuals involved in the double stabbing may be linked to the basketball game, where a brawl involving more than a dozen males broke out.
“We believe that the individuals involved in the stabbing investigation were possibly at that basketball game,” police spokesperson Const. Sandasha Bough said Thursday.
Emergency crews responded around 9:30 pm Tuesday to a reported stabbing in the parking lot of White Oaks Mall, where two male teenagers with stab wounds were taken to hospital with serious injuries not considered life-threatening, police said.
Officers arrested one suspect nearby and later identified a second suspect – both of them minors – and seized two knives, police said. One of the injured teens remains in hospital in serious condition, while the other has been released, police said.
Earlier in the night, a crowd of more than 100 gathered at White Oaks elementary school for a basketball game promoted by YouTuber Kevon Watt, known as K Showtime, as part of his seven-city southern Ontario tour that wrapped up this week.
The 20-year-old Toronto native has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, where he posts videos of basketball games that feature trash talking and occasional fist fights.
Multiple videos posted online from the London game show a brawl breaking out at the basketball court behind the school on Bradley Avenue.
One video posted on TikTok shows a group of males arguing on the basketball court before they start throwing punches and kicking people who fall to the ground. Dozens of onlookers surround the fighters, cheering them on and filming with their cellphones.
Bough said police are aware of the videos circulating online, but no complainants have come forward.
“Investigators are aware of an altercation that took place at the basketball game and we’re appealing for anybody who has information in relation to that (incident) or the stabbing to contact us to assist in this investigation,” she said.
Officials at the Thames Valley District school board didn’t know about the basketball game on school property until police contacted them Thursday, a board spokesperson said.
This is the second time in the past month a basketball game promoted by Watt has led to violence.
On July 17, Waterloo regional police responded to a basketball game that had drawn more than 300 people at Tremaine Park in Kitchener, where officers attempting to break up several fights were swarmed by youths and had to call for backup, according to a CTV News report .
Watt released a statement through his management company condemning any acts of violence and distancing his London event from the stabbings.
“Out of the hundreds of fans that came to my event in London, a small group of people came with the intent to cause harm and disrupt the event for the rest of the people. . . I would ask those small group of people who are not there to support and only to disrupt, to not show up as it ruins the event and potentially puts others at risk,” he said.
“I’ve learned that two teens were attacked at a nearby mall later that evening near my event. To my knowledge, this it is unconnected with my takeover and I want to give my support and wish a speedy recovery to all involved. In no way condones violence of that kind wherever and whenever it occurs.”