Police still seeking St. Catharines shooters

The search for two young men believed to be behind a shooting that wounded three people in St. Catharines, stretched into a second day on Friday.

Niagara regional police Const. Phil Gavin said all previously cordoned-off areas related to the incident have been released, including a home where the shooting took place.

Despite the progress on the investigation, however, Gavin said the two suspects were still at large.

“The IDs of the suspects remain unknown,” Gavin told a news conference, adding that witness accounts and the investigation so far suggest they may be from outside the Niagara region.

The shooting erupted shortly before 4 p.m. on Thursday in a downtown neighbourhood that a local politician described as “economically depressed.”

Police suggested there were multiple scenes of activity and later described the incident as targeted. They have said they’re looking for two men between the ages of 19 and 23 who were wearing hoodies and jeans.

Two of those injured in the gunfire were transported out of the city with life-threatening injuries, while the third was treated in a local hospital for what were considered less serious wounds, police said.

Gavin said Friday that he did not have any updated information on the conditions of the injured, and their names have not been released.

Police had kept investigators at three scenes overnight — the original site of the shooting and two nearby homes. Gavin said investigators eventually concentrated on one residence with suspected ties to the men being sought, adding it is a different home from the one where the shooting likely began.

Gavin said that residents had been cleared by Friday morning and all areas previously impacted by the investigation were once again open to the public.