Police work the scene where an officer was stabbed, and a suspect was shot in Toronto on April 12.Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press
A Toronto police officer was stabbed and another man shot in a west end neighbourhood Friday afternoon, police said.
Police could not say what led to the altercation, which occurred at 1 p.m. near the corner of College Street and Lansdowne Avenue.
“This afternoon, officers attended the area looking for a person in crisis. Officers arrived on scene and while trying to apprehend the male a police officer was stabbed in the leg. An officer then discharged their firearm,” Toronto police deputy chief Lauren Pogue said.
She added that both the officer and the suspect are in hospital and in stable condition.
Officers on the scene said they could not provide any more details because the province’s Special Investigations Unit had been called in and would be investigating.
The SIU investigates incidents involving an officer where there has been a death, serious injury, the discharge of a firearm at a person or an allegation of sexual assault.
Traffic was closed in both directions where the incident occurred, with more than a dozen police vehicles on the scene.
Yellow caution tape cordoned off a small plaza at the intersection, which is home to a convenience store, a pizza shop and a Tim Hortons.
Three Toronto police officers have been injured this week doing their duties, Mayor Olivia Chow said on X.
“One assaulted walking down the street, another hurt intervening in a car theft, and now this troubling incident. Violence is never acceptable,” she wrote, wishing the officer who was stabbed a quick recovery.
The officer injured in Friday’s incident is in his early 20s and has been on the job for less than a year, Toronto Police Association president Jon Reid said.
Mr. Reid said attacks on police officers must stop.
“I’ve really had enough, the members have had enough. This is the fourth officer we’ve had injured now in the last two weeks,” he said. “This has to stop.”
Police officers in Toronto need more support from the city and other levels of government, he said.
“We need to make sure that our city officials, federal officials come out to support the police and put a stop to a lot of these individuals that are out there.”
“Unfortunately, that uniform that was once respected is now getting to the point where it’s becoming a target. That is concerning,” he said.
“We need to bring that back around to the way things used to be … The police officers in these communities are here to keep everybody safe.”
Dave McGinn