A 12-year-old boy, out shopping with his mother, is one of two youths left critically injured after a North York shooting Saturday afternoon, which also left two teens in serious, but non-life-threatening condition.
"It's just an innocent victim walking," Interim Toronto Police Chief James Ramer said. "It's just a callous disregard."
Around 2:20 p.m., two cars entered a parking lot at 225 Stong Court, just north of Jane St. and Finch Avenue, when two men got out of one of the cars and started firing at the other.
That car was chased out of the parking lot, while the shooters went back into their vehicle and fled north on Jane St., Ramer said.
The other three victims eventually collapsed out of their car before being treated by EMS.
There were five people in the targeted car, leaving a 17-year-old in critical condition, while two other teens were also shot, but are stable.
Ramer said there were about 30 rounds left in the parking lot alone and it's believed semi-automatic weapons were used, but no weapons recovered.
"We've got rounds going into the houses on the west side of Jane St. here, right into the house, there were occupants in the house," he said. "There was lots of people out here at the time and it's disgraceful."
He said given how many people were out because of the nice weather and the amount of shots fired, it's fortunate there weren't more innocent victims.
There are limited details about the suspects, only that they were black males and there's no vehicle description at this time.
Ramer said that because this has the hallmarks of being gang-related, additional resources were being brought in to specific areas where there might be a conflict.
He also pleaded with any witnesses to come forward, or others who may have video of the shooting.
Mayor John Tory said on Twitter he had spoken to Ramer about the investigation.
"It is an absolute tragedy that an innocent 12-year-old was shot in North York today while walking with his mom," he said. It is infuriating and totally unacceptable that people continue to engage in brazen gun violence in our city and cities across Canada.