Toronto police say an attempted robbery led to the shooting death of a man exiting a bar with his friends in the city’s west-end Sunday morning.
Andrew Surage, 47, was leaving the after-hours bar near Weston Road and Northland Avenue around 5:45 a.m. when the attempted robbery took place and a struggle ensued, police said.
“It appears that there might have been a robbery as they exited the place and a brief struggle, and one of the males, who has since died, was shot," Det. Sgt. Graham Gibson said.
When paramedics arrived at the scene, they found Surage in life-threatening condition and rushed him to a trauma centre. Police said he had been shot multiple times in the torso and succumbed to his injuries a few hours later.
Police are describing the suspect as a white male with an average build who was last seen wearing a light-coloured jacket with darker-coloured sleeves, dark pants, dark shoes and a ball cap.
Police told CTV News that they are collecting surveillance camera images from the neighbourhood and speaking to the owner of the unlicensed after-hours bar that the deceased victim had been a patron of.
This is not the first time the site has witnessed violence. Court records show that Captain Wispers Social Club had had its liquor license revoked in 2010 for a number of infractions. There had been a shooting inside the bar in 2005, and a year later, a man was fatally shot while waiting in a line-up to enter the bar.
With files from The Canadian Press
