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Toronto: A man has been pronounced dead after shots were fired in broad daylight at a popular downtown park close to the city’s waterfront.
The shooting happened Sunday evening near a set of baseball diamonds in Coronation Park, near Lake Shore and Fort York boulevards.
“I was just sitting on a bench having a conversation with a friend and next I hear several pops, maybe five or six, coming from right behind me,” bystander Hunter Molnar told CP24. “I turn around thinking oh, maybe –you don’t think it’s going to be gunfire. But I saw people running and then I knew that something was really wrong.”
Police were called to the area at around 6:15 p.m., where they found a man with serious injuries.
He was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene, Toronto Paramedic Services said.
Toronto police said they are looking for four suspects who were seen running away from the area. One of them is described as wearing a grey Nike hoodie with a black stripe on the chest.
Gunfire sent park-goers fleeing
The shooting happened as thousands of people were out in the city enjoying a warm evening on the Labour Day weekend, many at the nearby CNE.
In a statement, the Canadian National Exhibition said it had been notified by Toronto police about “an incident” near the Exhibition Place Grounds and said it would remain open tonight.
“As part of its standard protocol, the CNE continues to make the safety of its visitors a priority,” the statement read.
Molnar said the shots set off a “chain reaction” which sent people in Coronation Park running for safety.
“I turned around to look in the direction I heard them (the shots) coming from and there were people running,” Molnar said. “There was actually one woman who had a child in her arms, so I knew it was something serious and I needed to flee the scene.”
Const. David Hopkinson told CP24 that the shooting happened in a heavily trafficked area where a bystander could easily have been struck.
“We’re talking about the last weekend before the kids go back to school, a beautiful weekend in Toronto, clear weather, we have the airshow going on nearby, we have picnics,” Hopkinson said. “This occurred apparently near a baseball diamond. I know the area is heavily populated, especially today. It’s particularly concerning because anybody could have been caught in the crossfire here.”
He said police are deploying extra resources to the area to reassure the public as they investigate.
“People can be assured the Toronto Police is doing everything they can to try and get to the bottom of this shooting and make everyone in the area safe,” Hopkinson said.
He added that police are also appealing to anyone with possible information to come forward.
“I believe that there would have been people there shooting selfies and pictures and taking video of what’s going on in the area,” he said. “They may have captured something on their cameras at about 6:15 this evening and we would like them to contact police with that information.”
A number of people leave ng the CNE Sunday night were surprised to find that their vehicles were inaccessible, as they were parked in the area of the crime scene. One man from Hamilton told CP24 he wasn’t sure how he would get home.
Police said they would tweet an update on their official account to notify affected vehicle owners when the scene has cleared.
