Two 17-year-old males have been arrested in connection with a drive-by shooting outside a Toronto high school that left a Grade 10 student with critical injuries.
The shooting took place in the parking lot outside of Weston Collegiate Institute, near Jane Street and Lawrence Avenue, shortly after noon on Thursday.
Police say that the 15-year-old victim had just left the school building when two male suspects in a stolen Hyundai Elantra pulled into the parking lot and opened fire on him.
The victim sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his “upper chest area” as a result, police say. He ran back into the school building to seek help and was later rushed to hospital via emergency run, where he remains in critical but stable condition.
“At this time it is alleged that the driver shot the victim multiple times from the vehicle,” Insp. Norm Proctor said during a press conference at police headquarters on Friday afternoon. “The suspects fled and the suspect vehicle was later located in Peel Region. It was later learned by investigators that this vehicle had been stolen via carjacking earlier in the day.”
The suspects were arrested on Friday morning following the execution of a search warrant in Peel Region.
Proctor said that a loaded firearm was recovered at that time.
He said that investigators are still working determine what relationship, if any, the suspects had with the victim. Neither attended Weston Collegiate Institute as students.
“The investigation is early and we are still working on a lot of information,” Proctor said. “The only information I can release at this time is that the young victim walked out into the parking lot and was then shot by the suspects, specifically one suspect. I don’t know if there was any interactions prior or if they are known (to one another). I have no idea.”
‘A brazen offence’
The shooting resulted in an hours-long lockdown at Weston Collegiate Institute on Thursday afternoon as police swept the building for possible suspects.
Classes resumed at the school on Friday morning and support staff were on hand to provide assistance to staff and students who required it.
The shooting was just the latest in a series of violent incidents at Toronto schools, and comes just months after an 18-year-old man was fatally shot outside Woburn Collegiate Institute in Scarborough in November.
“It is a brazen offence, there is no doubt about that. It is alarming,” Proctor said of the Weston Collegiate Institute shooting. “One shooting is too many but any shooting on school property or in relation to a school raises the alarm bells even louder or further.”
The suspects are each facing 10 charges, including attempted murder.
For a full list of charges follow this link.
The suspects cannot be identified under the terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
