Cops hunt suspects after 1 killed and 5 wounded in North York shooting

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Toronto Police are now searching for multiple suspects after a person in a wheelchair was shot and killed and five others were wounded Tuesday night outside of a Lawrence Heights condo complex.

One neighbour outside the complex — near Yorkdale Mall, at Varna Dr. and Ranee Ave. — said the gunfire sounded like an explosion.

The middle-aged man with a heavy Caribbean accent, who would not give his name, described the gunfire that happened around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night in a laneway behind Varna Dr. and Ranee Ave. as an extended “b-r-r-r-r-a-a-a-a-a-a-p-p-p” sound.

Several videos circulating on social media after the shooting, which some TV stations obtained, showed the scene to be chaotic, resembling an anthill of activity – with police and paramedics arriving on scene, while  residents tried to save the lives of those shot.

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The video also showed people, who possibly knew the victims, getting into confrontations and pushing matches with officers.

Residents of the condos said people were out enjoying the evening at the park bench area of the walkway when the guns came out.

“I came from work yesterday and saw a lot of cops with shotguns. It was very frightening,” said Rabie, who witnessed the mayhem as she returned home from work.

Rabie, who lives on the same floor as the dead man, recalled when she got up to her condo unit several floors up, the mother of the dead man was “yelling” and told Rabie “he passed away” when she asked about what was going on.

“When I got home they (the man’s family) said the guy in the wheelchair got shot in the stomach.”

They also told her “he got shot in the head and his stomach,” said Rabie.

She added she had met the man multiple times in the hallway and he told her that years ago he’d been shot during an incident at a gas station and was paralyzed from the waist down.

A woman who lives across from the victim’s unit called him a “a good boy.”

A well-dressed young man came out the door of a unit and said it was his brother who was killed.

The man said he’d flown in from Paris Wednesday morning and asked calmly “not to bother the family at this time.”

A blood trail from the shooting scene led to the Yorkdale TTC on the south side of Ranee Ave., and snaked its way to the west to a new condo/townhouse development at Flemington Rd. and Zachary Crt. where it ended outside several street-level units.

City Councillor Mike Colle, who was filming a live Facebook feed at the crime scene Wednesday night, described the violence as “tragic” and “very sad news.”

“Tragic news that one person is already dead,” said Colle, as he was live online on the west side of the Allen Expressway at Flemington Rd. and Zachary Crt.

“Unfortunately he died from his gunshot wounds and five or six others are in hospital with various degrees of injuries,” said Colle.

“Sad to say this has been a very quiet area in the last couple of years,” added Colle. “And now the quiet has been broken by these gunfights.”

Toronto Police Det.-Sgt. Tiffany Castell, of the force’s Homicide Unit, confirmed multiple guns were fired but wouldn’t say exactly how many.

“We do believe that it was targeted. In terms of it being gang-related, we’re absolutely investigating every possibility.”

— With files by Chris Doucette.