Toronto high schools grieve students murdered in brazen shooting

Toronto, Students and staff at two Toronto high schools are grieving today after two students were shot to death in Etobicoke on Monday afternoon.
The shooting occurred in a park behind The School of Experiential Education, an alternative high school in the area of Islington Avenue and Dixon Road, shortly before 12:30 p.m.
Paramedics said one of the students was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was rushed to a trauma centre but later died from his injuries.

One victim, according to a Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee, was a 15-year-old student at James Cardinal McGuigan Catholic High School, which is located near Finch Avenue West and Keele Street, about 20 minutes (nearly 12 kilometres) from the crime scene. The other victim was a 17-year-old student at Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School, which is located about four minutes away from the crime scene, sources tell CP24.
Angela Gauthier, director of education for the Toronto Catholic District School Board, said counsellors are helping staff and students cope with the tragedy at both schools.

“We are trying to keep things as calm and as normal as possible for students so they feel like they have a safe haven to come to,” she said. “Certainly they are aware of the incidents, the tragedies, and we have crisis intervention team helping students and staff deal with that.”
“It is inconceivable that a parent has to bury a child. Staff is very sensitive to that,” she added. “So (we are) very shocked, very saddened, dismayed by the loss of two young lives.”

One person was taken into custody on Monday but police say he was released without being charged. Police continue to search for more suspects but have not disclosed how many people they are looking for.
Forensic investigators continued to process the scene and a nearby apartment building on Tuesday morning. Officers were seen entering and leaving the building carrying packages of what appeared to be evidence. Police say they believe the suspects may have fled the scene of the crime through the apartment complex.
Police previously told reporters that they believe the shooting was “targeted.”
Gauthier said that the TCDSB plans to do its own analysis of the incident.
“Once we’ve dealt with the immediate shock and the grieving period, we will be sitting down as team to see what … middle and long-term measures we need to put into place both to continue the healing process and to do an analysis of if there was anything that could have been done,” she said.