A Toronto Police Service forensics officer inspects the scene of a shooting in Toronto on Monday, July 10, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
TORONTO – Two people are in hospital with serious injuries after a shooting in downtown Toronto that police say could be the result of road rage following reports of street racing.
Police say they were called to 7 Charles Street West, just one block south of Toronto’s busy Yonge and Bloor intersection, just after 6 a.m. this morning for a drive-by shooting.
Duty Insp. Michelle Olszevski says officers arrived to find a man and a woman in their 20s suffering from gunshot wounds.
Olszevski says they were taken to nearby hospitals where they are currently in serious, but non-life-threatening condition.
She says that before the shooting, police got a call about stunt driving taking place on Yonge Street shortly before 6 a.m. and the vehicles and occupants involved were also at the scene of the shooting.
Olszevski says it’s possible the shooting occurred as a result of road rage.
Nearby condo resident Aiman Fatima says she saw a group of ten to twelve people, mostly in their 20s, talking without issue before hearing 12 to 14 gunshots and seeing people fleeing the area.
Police say an unknown number of suspects fled the scene after the shooting in a vehicle described as a Black SUV last seen travelling northbound on Bay Street.
They say the victims may have been involved in the stunt driving but that is not confirmed.
There are road closures in the area, but subway commuters are not expected to be affected.
