Surveillance footage captures brazen daylight shooting near North York playground

Surveillance footage of a brazen daylight shooting near a North York playground on Saturday shows children running for their lives as gunfire erupts around them.

Toronto police said officers responded to reports of gunfire at a housing complex near Leslie Street and Finch Avenue at around 5 p.m.

Two men brought themselves to hospital shortly after the incident with non-life-threatening injuries. No one else was injured in the gunfight, but the surveillance video showed just how close many bystanders came to being struck.

In the video, a Mercedes appears to be backing up inside an underground parking garage of the complex before someone inside the car opened fire at two men standing between parked cars.

Moments later, the two men flee the scene with the Mercedes driving after them. An occupant of the Mercedes continues to fire shots at the men, who also return fire, through the sunroof and an open window of the vehicle.

The footage shows the two men running through the complex past a pool and playground. Children can be seen fleeing for their lives as bullets continue to spray the scene.

WATCH: Gunfire erupts near North York playground filled with children. Catherine McDonald reports.

3:32 Shooting caught on camera has residents of TCH complex living in fear

“The fact that these guys have zero regard for anybody’s life in that area, as well as kids and children, to fire numerous rounds out of a window and a sunroof of a moving car towards your intended targets with complete disregard for anybody that may be caught in the crossfire is to me, it’s completely shocking,” Det. Andrew Lipkus told Global News on Monday.

“As you can see in the video, it’s a complete miracle that no innocent bystanders were hurt in this,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "As you can see in the video, it's a complete miracle that no innocent bystanders were hurt in this," he said.

Lipkus said as many as 25 shots were fired. Officers found 20 shell casings at the scene.

“You can see rounds hitting the grass, you can see a round hitting a car and just behind that car is a playground,” Lipkus said. “You can see from other angles, that kids — some as young as four and five years old — are running for their lives, trying to get back to their home and I find that completely ridiculous and shocking.”

Just two days prior to the Saturday shooting, police were called to the same housing complex for the sounds of gunshots, though no evidence was found to suggest a gunfight occurred.

It also isn’t the first time this summer that there has been a shooting near a playground in Toronto.

On June 14, police were called to another playground in the McCowan Road and Steeles Avenue East area at around 5 p.m. for a shooting which left two sisters, aged 5 and 9, seriously injured.

— With files from Catherine McDonald