The gunman in a homicide in the city’s Mount Dennis neighbourhood on Wednesday morning opened fire on his victim through an open window as their vehicles passed one another on the street, surveillance footage obtained by CTV News Toronto shows.
The fatal shooting took place in the area of Jane Street and Weston Road shortly before 10 a.m.
Surveillance footage obtained by CTV News Toronto shows a gun being pointed outside the driver’s side window of the suspect vehicle as it passes the victim’s vehicle. A number of other vehicles can be seen travelling along the street at the time.
When officers arrived on scene, they found a 32-year-old man inside the victim’s vehicle suffering from gunshot wounds.
The man, who was breathing when first-responders arrived, was later pronounced dead at the scene.
A second person was also inside the vehicle during the shooting but was not hurt, Det.-Sgt. Mike Patterson told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.
The homicide detective said preliminary information suggests that the shots were fired from a light-coloured, newer model SUV, which was heading northbound on Weston Road.
It appears the victim’s vehicle, Patterson said, was heading southbound when the shooting occurred.
It is not known how many shooters were involved
“I can’t say what the motive is at this point. It is very early on in the investigation,” he noted.
“It is very brazen and quite disturbing at this time of day.”
Police are currently canvassing the area for witnesses and video surveillance footage.
“There are some witnesses, I can tell you, that are providing statements to us. The amount of traffic in the area, I mean it is first thing in the morning, I’m sure there was a lot of people that may have dash cams, cellphone video, anything like that,” Patterson said.
“We are really encouraging those people to come forward if they have not as of yet.”
The forensic identification unit is on scene collecting evidence and the police service’s K9 unit has also been called in.
Patterson said the area will be closed to traffic for the next several hours while police continue their work.
Police have not yet released the name of the victim as he has not been positively identified.
The homicide comes after another fatal shooting earlier this morning in Greektown. A man in his 30s was shot and killed following an apparent altercation with two males.
Today’s deadly shootings bring the total number of homicides in Toronto this year up to 65, just one short of the total number of homicides in 2017.
Speaking at a campaign event on Wednesday, Mayor John Tory said the problem of gun violence is not going to solved overnight.
“We have to work together and that’s the most important thing and that we have to work in a very deliberate way with the resources and I think they can take some encouragement from the fact that we’re doing that and I think that will produce some positive results,” he said.
“All of these events that are happening, as recent as the last 24 hours, are tragic and we want to bring that number down to zero if we possibly can as soon as possible.”
