'WILD, WILD WEST:' 5 dead, several injured after violent 24 hours across GTA

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In the span of less than a day, the GTA became the FTA — the fatal Toronto area.

The shooting and stabbing sprees kicked off late Monday night with a teenage boy — who is 16 years old, CityNews reported — being shot in The Esplanade-Berkeley St. area at about 9:20 p.m.

He was taken to a hospital with gunshot wounds and listed in serious condition. Suspects were seen fleeing the area, but there were no descriptions.

Then just before midnight, a young man — who was either 25 or 26 years old — was gunned down in the parking lot the Lawrence Allen Centre, west of the Allen Rd. at Lawrence Ave. W. and Marlee Ave.

A mountain bike could be seen on the west side of the parking lot, which was encircled with at least 72 yellow police markers and upward of 15 coffee cups covering shell casings as police searched for evidence.

Behind the yellow tape, a masked woman wailed in anguish with her arms outstretched toward the sky.

A large group of people — relatives and friends from the Flemington area — stood around a Ford F-150 pickup truck commiserating with each other and angered over the incident.

When a man standing beside it wearing a white baseball cap was asked whether he knew the victim, his eyes welled up with tears as he leaned into the passenger side of the truck and said, “That’s my son.”

At a group of low-rise apartments on the north side of the plaza parking lot, Clea Wright, 28, a mother to a five-year boy, was walking her dog and spoke about the gun violence.

“To be a young mother and have a child and see gun violence is very scary and worrisome,” said Wright. “Why do people condone gun violence? It’s just very sad.

“And these are 20-year-olds that are dying. And it’s just very sad.”

She said the situation was “unacceptable” and thinks about her five-year-old son growing up around gun violence.

“I don’t want him to grow up thinking that it’s OK to feel safe and have a gun,” she said. “You don’t need that.”

Judith Jara, who has lived in the area for the last 20 years, said knowing the young man was shot dead is a “terrible feeling. It’s very disturbing.

“Just to realize that crime is getting close to (my) home,” said Jara, “the entire neighbourhood will have an unsettled feeling.

“And for that young life that was lost.”

Then in the west end of the city at the St. Clair Crossings plaza — off Jane St. and St. Clair Ave. W. — at 12:21 a.m., police found a man bleeding to death on the sidewalk behind a Denny’s restaurant.

Police said the man had been stabbed and first responders who arrived at the scene tried to save his life, but were unsuccessful. It is believed the man was in his 50s and possibly homeless.

A large pool of blood lay on the sidewalk area along with a blood-soaked brown coat and bag. What looked to be bloody handprints were pressed against a wall.

An elderly woman leaving a nearby Starbucks said she has lived in the area for 65 years and she believed the man was homeless, but “never bothered anybody” and was friendly.

Less than an hour later at 1:04 a.m., police responded to a man who was found in a laneway near newly built Leaside-area condos at Eglinton Ave. E. and Brentcliffe Rd. The victim was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

A pool of blood remained and the doors of a white four-door Nissan had been sealed with police markers.

One man who came out of the condo to survey the scene after his wife said there had been a shooting fiddled with his mobile phone as he spoke.

“This is becoming the Wild, Wild West,” he said in reference to crime across the city.

Toronto Police duty Insp. Todd Jocko said the investigations are in their early stages.

“We know that the recent violence in Toronto is deeply concerning. Our officers are working around the clock to investigate these situations. You will see an increased police presence in these communities,” Jocko told reporters.

“We ask that anyone one with information to please contact police. Your safety is our top priority. We are committed to keeping communities safe and secure.”

Hours later in Mississauga in the Central Parkway and Joan Drs. area, Peel Regional Police responded to a call for a potential “break-in” at 3:47 a.m.

CTV Toronto reported that three suspects forced themselves into a home on Joan, where police said three men were found with injuries, included a man in his 50s who was shot and later died in a hospital.

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Then around 1 p.m. Tuesday afternoon in Courtice, Durham Regional Police conducted a “wellness check” at a home on Moulton Crt. and discovered two woman inside the home who were deceased. A small child, who was uninjured, was also found in the home.

Durham police Sgt. Joanne Bortoluss said a 33-year-old man found inside the home was taken into custody, but offered no further information.

“Both the deceased were suffering from obvious signs of trauma,” said Bortoluss.

The Durham homicide unit is investigating.

Toronto Police also on Monday identified Anthony McBean, 42, of Toronto, as the man who was gunned down at a plaza at Jane St. and Lawrence Ave. W. that morning.