A 20 -year -old man is dead after a shooting in the center of the city of Scarborough on Thursday afternoon, according to Toronto Police.
Police says that he received reports that a person was dead inside the mall around 1:50 pm
The man was found in a family bath near a meal courtyard at the lower level in the mall in 300 Borough Dr., near the 401 and McCowan Road highway. A firearm nearby was located, says the police.
When Toronto’s paramedics arrived, they pronounced the dead man on the scene.
After reviewing the video of the surveillance, the officers considered that the mall was safe and cordoned off from an area where the shot occurred. Forensic experts examined the immediate area and the divisional researchers were on the scene.
Shot involved ‘potentially a single shot,’ says the police
The interim inspector of the Toronto Police, Baheer Sarvanandan, told journalists near an entrance to the shopping center that only one could have been shot and that he could explain why no one reported having heard any shot.
“It doesn’t seem to be multiple shots, potentially a single shot,” he said.
“This happened in a very confined space that nobody knew,” Sarvanandan said. “It is a very busy shopping center and in that type of environment it is difficult to listen.”
I couldn’t say if the shot was self -inflicted. The police are investigating the incident as a suspicious death, he added.
Sarvanandan said that the police did not close the mall because they believed that it was not an active shooter situation and that the officers found a firearm in the bathroom.
“We take these things very seriously,” he added.
Later in the afternoon, the police expanded the area in the shopping center that was stuck.
Homicide detectives have been notified and are monitoring the investigation, but they have not taken it.
Police said there was a strong police presence in the mall on Thursday while the officers continued to investigate.
Witness says that “he didn’t hear a sound”
Steve Grabill, who was in the mall at that time, said he left the bathroom when he saw police officers place a screen.
“Suddenly, a police officer said: ‘There is nothing to do here, just moving,” Grabill told CBC News. “But I didn’t hear a sound. Not anything at all.”
Grabill said he has been coming to the mall since he opened in the mid -1970s and that it is the first time he hears a shooting there. He said the news of the shooting makes him nervous.
“It could have happened anywhere in the mall,” he said.
In a statement on Thursday night, Coun. Michael Thompson, who represents Ward 21, Scarborough Center, said he believes that suspicious death should not incite anyone to avoid the city center of Scarborough.
“He urges everyone to do their daily business and not leave the public square out of fear. The center of the city of Scarborough is a large, cozy and vibrant meeting place that anchors the purchase activities of hundreds of thousands of residents in the eastern region of Toronto,” Thompson said in the statement.
Suspicious information has not been published. Anyone with information is urged to contact the police.
