Police say the gunmen in the shooting of a 15-year-old boy in Toronto’s west end earlier this week also targeted another teen in the same neighbourhood just minutes prior.
Video surveillance from the scene shows a boy aged 15 to 16 running down an alley near Finch Avenue West and Martin Grove Road just before 8 p.m. Monday as the suspects approach with guns drawn.
The suspects fired as many as 10 bullets at the teen but he was not hit. They then returned to a black sedan waiting at the scene and headed westbound along Jamestown Crescent.
WATCH: Shocking video released by police shows west-end Toronto shootings. Catherine McDonald reports. (Feb. 9)
Another 15-year-old boy was then confronted moments later by the same gunmen in the Jamestown Crescent and John Garland Boulevard area while walking with his 16-year-old sister.
The teen was then shot in the abdomen after hiding in the doorway of a townhouse unit with his sister and was rushed to hospital with serious injuries.
READ MORE: Teen in serious condition after drive-by shooting in west-end Toronto
The boy’s mother, who Global News has agreed not to identify, said her son was retrieving something from a neighbour when he was shot.
“I was at the front of the door and he was there and so he ran and said, ‘Mommy, mommy, mommy I’m dreaming,'” she said, adding the boy’s sister was unharmed in the shooting but was “shocked.”
“I opened his jacket and then I see he was shot and I tell him, ‘You’re not dreaming. Whatever has happened to you that is true,’ and we called 911.”
The boy’s mother said she heard two gunshots and saw her son running from a black car before it quickly sped away.
Police described the car as a black 2010-12 Chrysler 300 with horizontal chrome “rub rails,” silver rims and tinted windows.
“This could have been a lot worse. There could have been two, three, four people dead,” Toronto Police Supt. Ron Taverner told Global News Thursday.
“This whole situation from the first shooting to the second shooting might have been two minutes at most. It was over in two minutes. But it just speaks to the total disregard for the life of people and not caring about people. It’s outrageous what’s happening here.”
WATCH: Two teens shot hours apart in Toronto
Taverner said the shootings were “random” and police would be deploying additional officers in the area in response to the incidents.
“A situation like this, two shootings, two minutes, we can’t be everywhere. It’s a bigger problem,” Taverner said, adding no one reported gunshots in the first shooting and the intended victim did not contact police.
“So how many other shootings are taking place and we’re not getting called?”
Investigators are appealing to a tow truck driver who was parked nearby during the shootings to come forward and would also like to speak with the teen who was originally targeted by the gunmen.
READ MORE: Police searching for armed suspect after teen boy shot at mall in north-end Toronto
Police are investigating another shooting of a teen boy in the plaza of Yorkgate Mall near Jane Street and Finch Avenue West just before 4 p.m. on the same day, but could not say if they were connected.
That teen boy was also shot in the stomach and taken to a hospital in serious, but stable condition. Police are still looking for an older black male with a thin build last seen wearing dark jeans and a dark denim jacket in connection with the shooting.
“The number of shootings are outrageous that are taking place and we need to deal with it as the police but this community has to come together and help us,” Taverner said.
“We can’t do it all alone and I think that’s the message.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-2300 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).
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