A woman has died after a daylight shooting in Toronto, police say.
Toronto police said emergency crews responded to Carlaw Avenue and Queen Street East, east of the Don Valley Parkway, at 12:23 p.m. Friday for shots fired.
Toronto paramedics told Global News they transported an adult to a trauma centre.
Police said a woman in her 40s was in life-threatening condition — she was later pronounced dead at a local trauma centre.
Homicide detectives are leading the investigation, police said.
Multiple people at the scene told Global News they believed the victim was a bystander. They said a woman was standing on Queen Street when a separate altercation not involving her took place and she was struck by a bullet.
Speaking at the scene, police said three people were involved in “a verbal and physical altercation” at Queen Street and Carlaw Avenue. Shots were fired and the woman was struck, police said.
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Investigators said it was not yet clear if there was a relationship between the three people involved in the altercation and the woman who was killed. “It is not believed that there is but this is still actively being investigated and it has not been confirmed,” Toronto police said.
One witness at the scene told Global News he had seen the altercation that he believed led to the gunshots.
“First, they were just talking and then one guy came up to them, around the back of them, I don’t know if he grabbed something from them or whatever but they started chasing him right away,” said the man. Global News has agreed not to name him for safety reasons.
He said the men wrestled the other man to the ground before he got away. As he ran away, the witness said he believed four or five shots were fired.
Police initially indicated they were looking for two male suspects. On Friday afternoon, they clarified three people were outstanding.
One of the suspects has a medium build and was wearing a white shirt with blood on it, while another suspect was wearing a dark T-shirt with a floral print and blue jeans.
They were last seen on foot heading east towards Boston Avenue, police said.
— with files from Global News’ Catherine McDonald
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