Detectives say they still don’t know why 70-year-old Alva Dixon was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Scarborough townhouse complex on Wednesday night.

The Scarborough resident was at around 11:30 p.m. near Morecambe Gate, located in the area of Victoria Park Avenue and Finch Avenue.

According to police, when officers arrived on scene they found two people suffering from gunshot wounds inside a van in the parking lot of a townhouse complex in the area.

Police say it appears a shooter approached from the side of the vehicle and opened fire and witnesses in the neighbourhood reported hearing about five shots.

Dixon was pronounced dead at the scene while a second male victim believed to be in his 40s was rushed to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

“It’s an incredibly cowardly act of a person sneaking up on a 70-year-old man and firing several shots at him,” Det. Jason Shankaran told reporters Thursday afternoon

Dixon was socializing with friends in the van, drinking beer and smoking, when he was shot and killed.

“We believe someone in that van was the intended target,” Shankaran said, adding they could not say if the target was Dixon.

Police say two suspects were spotted leaving the scene. One fired shots into the van, while the other suspect kept watch a short distance away.

Investigators believe the shooter and lookout fled towards Victoria Park Avenue after the incident.

Shankaran said the lookout could “clearly see everything that was going on,” from their vantage point.

The shooter is described as male, wearing high-top running shoes and a t-shirt over a hooded sweatshirt of a different colour.

Investigators are currently reviewing video surveillance footage in the area and forensic teams were on scene all morning collecting evidence.

A post-mortem examination is expected to be conducted today.

Shankaran said he hopes witnesses come forward from the neighbourhood, as Dixon was a “well-liked individual.”

“We’re hoping the despicable nature of this act causes someone to say ‘that’s not going to happen in this neighbourhood anymore, that person is going to jail’.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).