The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) of the Toronto Police Service said police “interacted” with three men before a shooting that left one person dead and two others injured Saturday night along the Caribbean Carnival parade route.
Late on Saturday, leftover streamers and feathers littered the ground alongside police tape near the Molson Amphitheatre, where the shooting now being investigated by the SIU occurred.
A man in his 30s died, a 22-year-old woman suffered life-threatening gunshot injuries and another person was grazed with a bullet in the incident on Lake Shore Blvd. W.
The woman was undergoing surgery at St Michael’s Hospital today, and the man’s name has yet to be released because police have not yet been able to notify his family.
“Police discharged their firearms; that’s why we’re there, but to what extent and how many and who, we can’t get to that yet,” said Frank Phillips, a spokesperson with SIU.
He said investigators were speaking with 14 witnesses between Saturday night and this morning. No updates on the injured woman or the specifics of the deceased’s injuries were available.
The shooting occurred after the parade while revellers were still milling around.
Just after 7 p.m. sounds of gunshots rang out and several hundred people suddenly fled from the area, said an Exhibition Place grounds worker who declined to give his name.
“You could see a whole load of them running and then police running the opposite way,” said the man, who was cleaning some bleachers nearby when he heard the shots.
Both victims were rushed to a trauma centre, EMS officials said. The man was pronounced dead at the hospital.
EMS officials weren’t able to say exactly what their injuries were.
An 18-year-old bystander was also injured and taken to hospital after a stray bullet grazed his eyebrow.
Devan Boodram was elsewhere along the parade route on Lake Shore Blvd. W. when he heard his nephew had been grazed by a bullet. They had come from Scarborough with other friends and family to watch the parade.
He went to the scene of the shooting around 8:30 p.m. to see if he could find out any details from police.
A few dozen officers stood inside the area that had been fenced off to spectators during the parade. Some were interviewing witnesses.
“We just heard that there was a guy with a gun and our nephew was one of the bystanders who got grazed. We don’t know much yet,” said Boodram, who declined to name his nephew.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has taken over the investigation. The unit probes cases of death, serious injury and allegations of sexual assault involving police officers. (Toronto Star)
