At about 3:20 p.m. on Friday, January 21, 2022 Oshawa police responded to the report of a shooting near King Street East and Central Park Boulevard. They found 57-year-old Mike Ryan lying next to his Blue Line minvan taxi. Despite the efforts of paramedics Mr. Ryan was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. The driver's door window on the taxi was shattered. A firearm was found at the scene and a 31-year-old man was arrested nearby and later charged with second-degree murder. Mr. Ryan was married with twins, a son and a daughter, both of them attending university. He had driven for Blue Line for five years, providing accessible taxi service. He received lots of compliments, said Sarah Gordon of Blue Line, "but there was not a single complaint in his file." Mr. Ryan had learned to pilot a glider and met his wife at the Kawartha Soaring Club in Omemee, Ontario, in 1981. His daughter thought this background made him an especially good driving instructor when he taught her and her brother to drive a few years earlier. "We were all together, the three of us in the car," she recalls. "He had some very specific things he wanted to make sure we both learned: first, keep your distance from the car ahead of you. Second, try to predict what the worst driver might do, and be prepared for it. Third, braking needs to be gauged by acceleration. It changes with the situation." [Next column]

Mike Ryan. Source: Obituary: Michael Anthony Ryan Mr. Ryan's death came less than nine weeks after the murder of Brampton Uber driver Raiz Ahmed and less than 12 weeks after the murder of Christopher Jung, both of whom were also shot to death.