3 dead after separate shootings in Toronto

Officials say three people have died after shootings in Etobicoke and North York early Sunday.

Toronto police and paramedics said emergency crews were called to Old Meadow Lane, near Allen and Flemington roads, at 2 a.m. after reports a person was shot.

Paramedics rushed a woman to a Toronto trauma centre with a police escort in life-threatening condition. She later died in hospital. Police identified the victim as 31-year-old Jenas Nyarko.

0:24 Homicide detective says nothing in victim’s past to suggest she was target

• Homicide detective says nothing in victim’s past to suggest she was target
• Police chief appeals to shooting witnesses to come forward

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Det. David Dickinson said Nyarko was in the back passenger seat of the vehicle on her way home from a funeral when someone in a silver Cadillac SUV fired a gunshot.

“The suspect vehicle then fled the area but not before discharging the firearm several more times,” he said.

Dickinson said there’s nothing to suggest Nyarko, or the three other occupants in the vehicle, were targeted.

“At this early stage in the investigation, it would appear that this is the case of individuals coming from one neighbourhood in the city to another neighbourhood and shooting the first residents that they see,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "At this early stage in the investigation, it would appear that this is the case of individuals coming from one neighbourhood in the city to another neighbourhood and shooting the first residents that they see," he said.

Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders appealed to anyone with information to come forward.

“To have an individual shoot at a vehicle that is practically full of occupants and to drive away nonchalantly is a huge indication of the person — persons because obviously there was more than one person involved in this — they need to know we’re going to do everything it takes to apprehend them,” Saunders said.

0:32 Mayor John Tory condemns recent shootings and says perpetrators will be put away

• Mayor John Tory condemns recent shootings and says perpetrators will be put away
• 2 dead after shooting on Lightwood Dr. in Etobicoke
• Woman rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries after shooting in Lawrence Heights

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Less than 15 minutes after Nyarko was shot, police and paramedics were called to a residential property on Lightwood Drive near Kipling Avenue and Albion Road.

Police said multiple shots were fired into a home after one of two victims opened the front door. Two men were shot and paramedics said they both died at the scene.

Twenty-year-old Patrick McKenna and 40-year-old Dalbert Allison were identified on Monday as the victims of the shooting.

Meanwhile, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said the overnight homicides are indicative of gang activity.

“I think our street-gang subculture is an issue right now when it comes to policing in the city,” he said, adding police are working to make arrests.

As of Sunday evening, Toronto police didn’t release a description of the suspects wanted.

— With files from Alana Macleod