Social workers were offering support to students and staff after a shooting outside a Toronto high school left one person dead, the board said Tuesday.
Officers responded to reports of a shooting at Woburn Collegiate Institute around 3:20 p.m. on Monday. The victim, who police have identified as 18-year-old Jefferson Peter Shardeley Guerrier, was taken to hospital where he later died.
A 15-year-old boy found with gunshot wounds was also taken to hospital and police said he’s in stable condition.
Toronto District School Board spokesman Ryan Bird said the board is working with Toronto police to confirm whether the two who were shot were students at the school.
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He said social workers were at the school on Tuesday to speak with staff members and students.
“Our TDSB social workers are at the school, open and available to speak with any staff or students,” he said.
“If there’s something that was required, in addition to that, we do have, obviously, relationships with community supports.”
Bird said TDSB security guards were also at the school, as well as Toronto police.
“We wanted to make sure that security was there, not only to make people feel safer, but just out of an abundance of caution,” he said. “They’ll stay for as long as needed.”
He said school-based safety staff usually patrol the TDSB’s middle and high schools during the day.
“We do have TDSB security in general, but that’s not something that is present in all schools,” he said. “They’re provided to schools on an as-needed basis.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said news of the shooting was difficult to hear.
“Kids should feel safe going to school,” Trudeau said Tuesday.
“We need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to support communities to reduce the amount of gun violence in our cities and across our country.”
Police have described the suspect in the shooting as a boy in his teens. They are asking anyone who witnessed the shooting or who has information to contact them.
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