Toronto police have issued a public safety alert after two 15-year-old boys were allegedly attacked by a stranger wielding a knife in Scarborough on Tuesday.
Police said the two boys were walking in the area of Jaguar Street and Meandering Trail around 4:47 p.m. when they were approached from behind by a man they did not know.
Det.-Sgt. Jim Gotell told Global News on Wednesday that the two boys were on their way home from school and had just gotten off the TTC when the man “grabbed one of the boys, put him in a headlock and he took a knife and cut the boy’s throat.”
The boy sustained life-threatening injuries but has since been downgraded to stable.
Gotell said the second boy tried to intervene and received a minor stab wound as well.
He said the man then fled the scene on foot. Gotell added that police believe the attack to be “unprovoked” and the two boys and the suspect were not known to each other.
Neighbourhood resident Samuel Prima called the situation “unexpected.”
“It’s really surprising for me to hear. This is a neighbourhood with a lot of families and a lot of children. It’s always been a safe neighbourhood,” he told Global News on Wednesday.
“I’ve lived here for almost 10 years now, so definitely something I would not have expected to hear.”
Another resident named Donald told Global News that “nothing ever happens” in the neighbourhood so the incident is a “shock.”
He said that police came to him around 9:30 p.m. and told him that “some guy slashed two kids’ throats coming from school.”
He said that since the suspect is still at large he has to worry for his wife and kids, and that he will be dropping his wife off at the bus stop for work in the morning for the foreseeable future.
The suspect is described as of average build, five feet, eight inches tall, with a full beard and black hair. He was wearing a white T-shirt and black pants at the time of the alleged incident.
Police have released a surveillance image of the suspect.
Investigators believe the man is “violent, armed and dangerous” and said if located, do not approach him and call 911.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-4200 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477.
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