Toronto police say a 14-year-old boy has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old student at a Scarborough high school on Monday.
The shooting occurred after classes were dismissed, around 3 p.m., at David and Mary Thomson College Institute.
Police said the 14-year-old boy allegedly approached the 18-year-old from behind and shot him inside of the school.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Toronto Police Homicide Insp. Hank Idsinga said he has seen video of the shooting, and called it an “execution.”
Idsinga said the suspect allegedly ran up behind the victim, and shot him at “point blank range.”
He fled the area while chasing another 18-year-old student. The 14-year-old boy allegedly assaulted the other teenager and pointed a gun at him, but did not fire the gun, police said.
The 18-year-old boy who was shot died on scene. He has been identified as Jahiem Robinson, a Grade 12 student.
In an update Tuesday, investigators said they arrested the 14-year-old boy a few hours following the shooting, at around 7 p.m.
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Idsinga told reporters the boy was “on his way into 41 Division to turn himself in.”
“So he was arrested very close to the police station,” he said.
The boy is facing a first-degree murder charge and an attempted murder charge. Due to the Youth Criminal Justice Act, an accused under the age of 18 cannot be named.
Idsinga did confirm, however, that the accused was also a student at the school.
Police have not yet recovered the firearm, Idsinga said.
Meanwhile, the Toronto District School Board is launching it’s own investigation into a fatal shooting of an 18-year-old student on Monday.
The TDSB also said grief counsellors and support workers are on hand to provide support in person and online for any students affected by the tragic event.
The school switched to remote learning for Tuesday. The school will also be closed again on Wednesday.
“It just happened,” TDSB spokesperson Shari Schwartz-Maltz told reporters outside of the school on Tuesday. “You need a lot of time to get your head around it. There were people that are inside today that were there when it happened and so there’s just a huge support team so that they can talk and express.”
Teachers at the school have been asked to reach out and connect with their students, Schwartz-Maltz added.
Toronto Mayor John Tory also commented on the fatal school shooting.
“Any kind of act of violence that takes place in a school, which is supposed to be a safer place as there is, is anything other than tragic and unacceptable,” Tory said.
“I have a 14-year-old grandson and I mean the whole notion that anybody at that age could have a gun, put it in their pocket, take it to school and then use it, to me, is inconceivable,” Tory continued.
Tory also said there continues to be a prevalence of handguns in Toronto, most of which are coming from the United States.
Speaking at the press conference on Tuesday, Toronto police Deputy Chief Myron Demkiw said this year alone, one-third of the homicides in Toronto have involved victims or accused under the age of 20.
“Two have involved persons under the age of 15,” he said. “This fact is disturbing and demands that something must change. There is no rational explanation for why a 13-, 14- or 15-year-old child should have illegal access to firearms, let alone feel compelled to use them.”
He said Toronto police are “deeply troubled by this case.”
“The murder of a young person inside a school where kids should feel safe and secure is shocking to all of us as a service,” he said. “We’ll do whatever we can to address these issues.”
-With files from Global News’ Hannah Jackson
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