Child, woman dead after gunman shoots 15 in Toronto, then killed
A second shooting victim died Monday after a gunman’s rampage in a Toronto neighborhood that left 13 people wounded and chaos on a thoroughfare crowded with bars and restaurants. Authorities have not determined a motive.
Police Chief Mark Saunders said an 18-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl were killed. The wounded ranged in age from 10 to 59, and some might have life-changing injuries, he said.
The suspect, 29, died minutes later after an exchange of gunfire with responding police officers a few blocks from Sunday’s carnage, Saunders said. It was not immediately clear whether the suspect shot himself or was killed by officers.
“We do not know why this happened yet,” Saunders said Monday. “This is still a new investigation.”
Saunders said the shooting, in the Greektown neighborhood, was not random, and he did not rule out terrorism as a motive. He asked the public for help through witness information, videos and photos from the scene.
The attack in Canada’s largest city came three months after a 25-year-old man in a rented Ryder truck ran down pedestrians along iconic Yonge Street, killing 10 and injuring 15.
Mayor John Tory said the city has a gun problem. Although mass shootings are rare in Canada’s largest city, police recently have deployed dozens of additional officers to deal with a spike in gun violence in the city.
So far this year, gun-related deaths have accounted for 23 of Toronto’s 52 homicides compared with 16 fatal shootings in the first six months of 2017, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail.
With more than 2 million people, Toronto is among the biggest cities in North America. In Chicago, which has a slightly lower population, there have been 290 homicides, according to a database maintained by the Chicago Sun-Times.