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1 dead, 2 injured in 'very brazen daytime shooting' at Fairview Mall parking garage

Toronto police vehicles are parked near the scene of a triple shooting on Monday. Three men in their 20s were shot. One has died in hospital. The shooting occurred at a parking garage in a shopping mall. (Hugo Levesque/CBC - image credit)
Toronto police vehicles are parked near the scene of a triple shooting on Monday. Three men in their 20s were shot. One has died in hospital. The shooting occurred at a parking garage in a shopping mall. (Hugo Levesque/CBC - image credit)

One person is dead and two others are injured after a "very brazen daytime shooting" in a parking garage at Fairview Mall on Monday, Toronto police say.

Duty Insp. Mike Hayles, spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service, said officers were called to the mall shortly after 4 p.m. for a report of a shooting. The scene is a large commercial plaza at 1800 Sheppard Avenue East, he said.

All three victims suffered gunshot wounds.

Police responded with Toronto paramedics, and when they arrived, they found two men in their 20s suffering from gunshot wounds on the main floor of a parking structure on the north side of the plaza.

Paramedics tended to the victims and took the pair to a local hospital, where they are receiving medical treatment. One victim has life-threatening injuries, while the other has non-life-threatening injuries.

Hayles said a third victim, also a man in his 20s, was dropped off by a personal vehicle at a trauma centre in the area. The man received medical treatment but has since been pronounced dead, he said.

"We do have sufficient information to lead us to believe that the individual who was dropped off at hospital was present here at the scene during the interaction," he said.

Police are collecting video evidence and examining several vehicles at the mall. There is one vehicle in particular that police believe was used in the shooting, he said.

Police have not ruled out whether the shooting is gang-related.

"We have a significant police response that is here now currently at the scene," Hayles told reporters.

Hayles appealed to anyone who witnessed the shooting to come forward to police.

Police's homicide squad has taken over the investigation, but Hayles said it is in its early stages.

People outside mall put at risk, police say

Hayles said there was never any threat to people inside the mall but there was a threat to people outside the mall in the area. He described the parking garage as "very busy" at that time of the day because people were coming and going about their business. There will be a heightened police presence over the coming days, he added.

"There were clearly people that were in the area outside when the shooting occurred and they were certainly put at risk and that is very concerning to us."

Hugo Levesque/CBC
Hugo Levesque/CBC

Hayles said several people fled the scene on foot and by vehicle and police are working to identify them. Police don't know which of them are people of interest or which of them were simply witnesses fleeing the scene.

"We don't have any suspect descriptions that are confirmed at this time, however, we do believe that suspects did flee the scene," he said.

"Our investigators are on scene working diligently to identify those persons, or person, that may have been responsible for this incident."

There was a "robust response" from mall security and security guards worked with police to secure the scene quickly, he added.

Hayles said police would like to speak to anyone who has dashboard camera footage of Sheppard Avenue East and Highway 404 after 4 p.m. that may have capture vehicles leaving the parking lot.