Suspects sought in bowling alley shooting
Witnesses describe ‘pandemonium’ as gunfire at busy venue kills two, including bystander
Police are searching for three suspects who chased a man into a crowded North York bowling alley on Saturday night, before killing him and an innocent bystander inside.
At least two men fired several shots into Playtime Bowl & Entertainment, killing the bystander, Ruma Amar, and Thanh Tien Ngo, whom they had chased outside the building, police said.
Ngo, 32, was pronounced dead inside the bowling alley. Amar, 29, who was there with her husband and sister, was struck by gunfire and died hours later in a hospital.
Families with kids were among the crowd inside the venue on Samor Rd., near Dufferin St. and Lawrence Ave. W., when men with pistols opened fire.
“There were children around. It was scary,” said Craig Wallace. “It was busy. It was a packed place.”
People in the crowd screamed, “Duck and cover!” and “Someone’s got a gun!” Wallace said.
Amar, her husband and sister were trying to leave the building through the front door when the shooting began, homicide Det. Rob Choe said Sunday.
Amar did not know the other victim, Choe said. “The shooting was meant for Mr. Ngo.”
Choe declined to say whether Ngo was known to police, if he was carrying a weapon, or if the shooting was gangrelated.
“Our female victim has no history with police,” Choe said.
Amar’s father, Sunil Amar, described his daughter as the “sweetest and kindest soul gone way too soon.”
The victim’s LinkedIn page said she was an employee at CIBC for nearly two years, and had a degree from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Commerce.
Playtime Bowl offers laser tag and arcade games as well as bowling.
The shooters never entered the building, although one stood close to the front window, Choe said.
Ngo was at the bowling alley with at least one friend, Choe said.
Wallace said he saw someone bleeding heavily in the bowling lane next to him and that someone else was trying to protect the victim.
There’s a video camera outside the bowling cameras and several other security cameras in the neighbourhood, Choe said.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” Choe said.
The two shooters and another man fled in a dark vehicle, Choe said.
Nilton Remos, 43, said he was at the bowling alley to celebrate the 15th birthday of a friend’s son.
“I heard shooting, but I didn’t know it was gunshots,” Remos said, describing a chaotic scene as a crowd ran from the front of the building towards the back door. “We all ran out with our bowling shoes (on),” Remos said. “It was just chaotic, man.”
Another witness, IT worker Mike Noel, 47, said he heard screams of “Gun! Gun!” and “Everybody to the back!”
“People are crying. People are screaming. Pushing. Trying to get out the back exit,” Noel said. “It was pandemonium.”
“You’re living a situation that you see on the news,” Noel said.
Noel said he didn’t hear gunshots and it only took a few minutes from the time he first heard the screams until he escaped through the back door.
“I was up for most of the night processing things and putting things into perspective,” Noel said.
Zachary Bloom, 28, Scarborough, said he was in the back of the bowling alley when the screaming started at the front. “Everybody was running, pushing each other away,” Bloom said. “Everybody was going to the back. I thought it was a joke.”
“Everybody was panicking. ‘Where do we go? Where do we go?’” Bloom said.
“I looked at my friends and said, ‘We’ve got to go. It’s not a joke,’” Bloom said. “You don’t really know what to believe. You’ve got to go with the flow.”
Bloom said he didn’t hear gunshots or see the victims.
“I woke up thinking about it, sad,” Bloom said.
Mississauga electrician Paolo Cortes, 22, said he didn’t hear any gunshots when the mood suddenly changed.
“Everyone ditched their stuff and ran,” Cortes said.
Police are looking for three suspects, two armed with handguns. One is described as wearing a blue hoodie and black shoes, another was wearing a black shirt and black shoes with white soles. Police said they fled the scene westbound in a dark vehicle driven by the third man.
There have been 14 confirmed homicides in Toronto this year.