Daytime shooting rocks neighbourhood,

Suspect remains at large while police review surveillance images

An east-end apartment building that residents say has a history of violence was the scene of a record-setting homicide Sunday afternoon.

Emergency services responded to reports of multiple gunshots at the West Hill Apartments at the busy intersection of Lawrence Ave. E. and Kingston Rd. at around 1:30 p.m., and located a man suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

The shooting is Toronto’s 90th homicide of 2018, break- ing a record set in 1991.

A heavy police presence descended on the scene, including dozens of officers in more than 10 police cruisers.

At about 3 p.m., members of the Toronto Police Service Emergency Task Force drove up to the 13-storey building with sirens flashing. They entered the building with guns drawn but in no apparent hurry. Additional officers could be seen on the landings of several floors inside.

As police canvassed apartments looking for witnesses to the crime, residents congregated on the ground floor and at the entrance of the building. Some told reporters there has been violence at the highrise before, including a serious stabbing in August that almost killed a man.

Some residents expressed frustration and fear about the conditions in the building, which is a Toronto Community Housing property.

“I’ve got to get out of here,” said Paulette Walcott, who said she has lived at the building for more than eight years and was using a walker to make her way up the sidewalk in front of the apartment.

“I’m not safe inside here,” she said, adding the situation was going “from bad to worse.”

Toronto police Const. David Hopkinson confirmed the homicide unit has taken charge of the investigation.

On Sunday night, Det. Paul Worden told media at the scene that the suspect or suspects were still at large. Police had been seen leading a man in handcuffs away from the build- ing shortly after the murder, but Worden said he had been arrested on an unrelated matter.

The detective said the murder victim was a man about 30 years of age. He said police believe they know his identity but wouldn’t release it until they had notified his next of kin.

He said the shooting took place in a stairwell in the building.

Worden said it wasn’t clear how many times the man had been shot, but it was more than once. “It was consistent with the reports of numerous gunshots,” he said. He said he couldn’t say how many shooters there were or what the possible motive was.

He said the victim was “well known to the building, to people in the building.” He said that numerous people had come forward to police to offer information but he believed there were additional people who may know something valuable but had not yet shared it with investigators.

“I have the feeling there’s a lot of people in the building who may have information about this crime, but as of now they’ve not felt comfortable coming forward,” he said. He asked anyone with information to contact police through the homicide division at 43 Division or the Crime Stoppers program.

According to Worden, there is no surveillance footage from the part of the building where the shooting took place.

He said police were reviewing surveillance video, including footage from outside the building.