A man in his 20s is dead and two others are injured after an afternoon shooting at a busy Toronto mall parking lot on Monday afternoon.
Police officers responded to the main level of a parkade at Fairview Mall, near Don Mills Road and Sheppard Avenue East, just after 4 p.m. after receiving reports of gunshots, Toronto Police Service Duty Inspector Mike Hayles told reporters at the scene.
One victim was dropped off in a personal vehicle at a trauma centre, where he died.
Two others, also men in their 20s, were transported to hospital by paramedics. One has life-threatening injuries and another suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Insp. Hayles said.
There haven’t been any arrests made and no details were available about the number of suspects. Police believe those involved fled the scene quickly and are appealing for witnesses or anyone with dash-cam footage from the area to come forward.
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Insp. Hayles described the shootings as an “isolated incident” and said police didn’t believe there was a threat to the safety of the patrons inside the mall. Still, he called the daytime incident “brazen” and said it put people in the area outside the busy mall in danger. A heightened police presence is expected over the coming days in the area as the suspects remain at large, he added.
“Any time there is a shooting, it’s very concerning and we understand that the impacts of shootings, no matter when or where they occur, can have a deep effect on the community that it occurs in,” Insp. Hayles said.
The investigation into the motive remains in its early stages, but police aren’t ruling out gang activity. An area of the parking lot remained taped off Monday evening and investigators with the police forensic identification unit were focused on one vehicle that was believed to be involved.
Dustin Cook