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Man, 34, dead after overnight shooting in midtown Toronto

Click to play video: 'Neighbours call for bar’s shut-down after early morning homicide'
Neighbours call for bar’s shut-down after early morning homicide
Police responded to a shooting outside Paradise Palace Caribbean Restaurant early Sunday morning. As neighbours watched investigators search for clues for the city's 19th homicide, they say the establishment has a history of violence – Apr 22, 2019

Toronto police say a man was killed in a shooting early Sunday in the city’s midtown neighbourhood.

Police said they received a call around 2:50 a.m. for reports of a shooting in the area of Vaughan Road and Glenora Avenue, near Eglinton and Oakwood avenues.

When authorities arrived on scene, they located an unconscious man with gunshot wounds near the Paradise Place Caribbean Restaurant in the area.

Police and paramedics rushed the man to hospital in an emergency run. He was later pronounced dead in hospital.

Police have since identified him as Jermaine Gerard Skeete, 34, of Toronto.

Much of the area around the shooting scene remained cordoned off well into Sunday morning, including an area encompassing a local church where people were heading to celebrate Easter Sunday.

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Police did end up allowing churchgoers to pass under yellow tape in order to access New Dawn Moravian Church for mass.

People pass under yellow tape to go celebrate Easter mass after a shooting near their church early Sunday. Matthew Bingley / Global News

“Nothing would ever stop us as Christians from worshiping, but when I reflect on all things, I also reflect on the family members of the person who had passed,” said Rev. Rowan Simmons said.

Neighbours in the area said violence in the area is not uncommon and there have been at least three shootings nearby recently.

A post-mortem for Skeete is scheduled for Tuesday.

There is no word on any suspects, but investigators are looking to speak to anyone who has information on Skeete’s activities in the lead up to his death.

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Anyone with information is asked to contact the Toronto police homicide squad at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477.

Police have identified the victim as Jermaine Gerard Skeete, 34, of Toronto. Handout / Toronto Police

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