WATCH: Classes have resumed but sadness weighs heavily in the hallways of two Toronto high schools after two teenage boys were shot and killed. Catherine McDonald reports.
TORONTO – The mother of one of the two teenagers gunned down outside of a Etobicoke school Tuesday said her son was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Zaid Yousif, 15, was killed close to Don Bosco High School where he went to school. His mother, Jina Samoui told Global News her son was caught in the middle of a large fight.
Classes at a Toronto-area high school resumed Tuesday, a day after the two teenagers were shot and killed outside school grounds.
Officials at the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) said students and staff remain in shock following the incident.
“We’re trying to keep things calm. We have a crisis intervention team,” TCDSB Director of Education Angela Gauthier told reporters Tuesday morning.
One person was taken into custody as a person of interest and the search is ongoing for further suspects after shots rang out behind an apartment building near Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School in northwest Toronto Monday afternoon.
Police say the shooting happened at 12:30 p.m. on Islington Avenue which resulted in the death of a 15-year-old male student from James Cardinal McGuigan Catholic High School and Yousif.
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One of the victims was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was rushed to hospital but later succumbed to his injuries.
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Toronto police Superintendent Ron Taverner told reporters on Monday that the shootings were targeted but released very little information on the motive or suspects.
The school board said it will conduct a review of the circumstances surrounding the incident to see if any further measures could have been taken.
“Once we’re done with the immediate shock, we’ll be sitting down with the team to figure out long-term measures,” said Gauthier. “To do an analysis to see if anything could have been done.”
Four schools in the area were placed in lockdown at some point of the day following the shooting.
The double fatal was the first of two separate shootings in Toronto on Monday.
The second happened shortly after 3 p.m. in an alleyway near Regent Park when a man was shot several times and later died of his injuries.
Police are searching for two suspects seen running from the scene.
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