Two men were injured during a brazen gunfight in a Toronto housing complex that was captured on video and forced children to flee a nearby park.
The dramatic footage obtained by CTV Toronto shows the sunroof of a two-door, grey Mercedes Benz open as it pulls into a parking garage on Saturday afternoon. The car then reverses down the length of the garage toward a small group of men and a gunfight breaks out.
The shots fired out the passenger window of the car are met with nearly 10 shots from the fleeing targets.
One victim is chased by the vehicle and shot at—at one point through the sunroof—as he runs through the Toronto Community Housing Complex on Tree Sparroway in the Bayview Woods-Steeles neighbourhood.
Toronto police said that two men in their 20s suffered non-life threatening gunshot wounds. Investigators estimate that a total of 25 shots were fired—including one that struck the windshield of a minivan parked just in front of a swimming pool and a park where children and their families were enjoying a sunny afternoon.
“The suspects in this incident have a complete disregard for any human life whatsoever,” Det. Andrew Lipkus with the Toronto police told CTV Toronto.
The video shows dozens of people running and ducking as they hear the gunfire. One child can be seen riding by on a bicycle, while another sprints through the lawn. A father narrowly saves the life of his son by grabbing him and ducking behind garbage canisters.
The shooting—the second in the neighbourhood in 48 hours—has left many residents shaken and on edge.
“It makes everyone very anxious because it’s in your own neighbourhood,” resident Nigel Russell told CTV Toronto. “If you can’t go outside, where can you go?”
This brazen attack comes after another daylight shooting in June, when two sisters, aged 5 and 9, were shot while playing with nine other children in a Scarborough playground.
With a report from CTV Toronto’s Tracy Tong
