Two people in their 20s are dead after a shooting in North York on Tuesday afternoon, Toronto police say.
The shooting happened in the area of Driftwood Avenue and Jane Street, according to Duty Insp. Todd Jocko of the Toronto Police Service. Officers were called to the area for the sound of gunfire shortly after 2:15 p.m.
Officers arrived to find two people with gunshot wounds, Jocko told reporters.
Jocko said one person was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was taken to a trauma centre with life-threatening injuries and later died there.
Police believe there was an altercation among a group of people that led to the shooting.
“We recognize that incidents like this are shocking to a community and we are asking for information that would help us determine who was responsible,” Jocko said.
Two firearms have been recovered and police say they are looking for suspects who fled the scene. Police have not said whether the suspects fled on foot or in a car and in which direction they went, or how many suspects there are in total. No descriptions have been released.
Toronto police say they have recovered two firearms and are looking for suspects. (CBC)
Next of kin are being notified, police say.
Jocko said police will have a heightened presence in the area, including a command post, because the incident is now a double homicide. The command post will be up for 48 hours and then police will reassess, they said in an email.
A command post was set up in the area for three months earlier this year, following two shootings near a bus shelter in February. Those shootings left a 39-year-old man dead and a 16-year-old boy injured.
That command post provided onsite trauma counselling, police said.
Shooting occurred near child care centre
Insp. Jack Gurr, of Toronto police’s 31 Division, called Tuesday’s shooting “a horrible thing.” He added that the community is working hard with police to reduce gun violence in the area.
“We have a very strong relationship with this community. We have our neighborhood officers assigned here and they’re on patrol every single day in this area and they’re making a lot of inroads and speaking with the community,” Gurr said.
“And we have a lot of community programs where our officers are working with the youth.”
The shooting happened at a Toronto Community Housing complex and appears to have occurred in a parking lot within a courtyard. A city-run child care centre is also nearby.
“Our hearts go out to those impacted,” Deborah Blackstone, spokesperson for the city of Toronto, said in an email on Tuesday at about 5:30 p.m.
Anyone who witnessed anything, or who has dashboard camera or cellphone or doorbell camera video, is urged to come forward to investigators.
Local schools were in lockdown while police investigated, but police say the lockdowns have been lifted.