A suspect was shot dead near an elementary school in Toronto Thursday after police responded to reports of a man seen carrying what appeared to be a rifle in the area, just two days after the Texas mass shooting. Police described the suspect as a man in his late teens or early 20s. Toronto Police Chief James Ramer said the suspect was shot after he "confronted" officers, the Toronto Star reports. Investigators say a BB gun was recovered at the scene, reports CTV. Witnesses said they heard three shots and then saw officers trying to revive the man. Police said two officers fired on the man and he was hit at least once.
"Due to the proximity to a school, I certainly understand the trauma and how traumatic this must have been for staff, students, and parents, given the recent events that have happened in the United States," the chief said. He said investigators "have no understanding, at this point in time, what was about to happen, or what could have happened." The chief said he can't disclose details about the man's interaction with police because Ontario's Special Investigation Unit is investigating the shooting, as it does whenever police in the province shoot a civilian, the Guardian reports.
Witnesses say the man was shot around 300 feet from William G. Davis Junior Public School. Parent Steve Matthews tells CityNews that he called 911 after seeing the man pacing back and forth with what appeared to be a rifle. Hundreds of students at that school and three others in the area were locked down during the incident. Fifth-grader Inaaya Zaman tells the CBC that she realized it wasn't a drill when the lockdown lasted more than 20 minutes. "There was a mass shooting in Texas and that was really sad, so knowing about this person that is armed, it feels like they were going to shoot the school and I was feeling really tense," she says. (More Toronto stories.)
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