A woman shot this afternoon in the Queen Street East and Carlaw Avenue area has died.
In a media conference at nearby Queen and Pape Avenue just after 3:30 p.m., Toronto police Insp. Michelle Olszevski said the woman, who is in her 40s, had died in hospital.
“She was taken to a nearby trauma centre and she has unfortunately been pronounced deceased. The homicide squad is on scene and has taken carriage of the investigation,” said Olszevski.
Police were called to the area for a reported shooting at 12:23 p.m.
Witnesses say the shooting victim was a woman who was wearing a pink dress. Witnesses also said the woman was an innocent bystander. Police would not confirm that at the media conference.
Prior to the shooting, Olszevski said three men were involved in an altercation at Queen and Carlaw and then shots were fired. Police have not recovered a weapon.
Witnesses said the victim was separate from the group of three men but police said it was still an “active and ongoing” investigation. However, police did say it “is not believed” there is a connection between the victim and the three men.
Police said they were still investigating and were not releasing any more information on suspect descriptions at this time. The three men were last seen heading east along Queen Street towards Pape Avenue.
A man getting off a bus near the intersection said he saw two men involved in an altercation, then saw a metal object which he believed to be a gun drop to the ground. The man who saw the two men fighting left the area and headed towards Heward Avenue, one block east of Carlaw south of Queen, when he said he heard what sounded like three shots.
Earlier this afternoon, police said on Twitter that there were two male suspects. At that time, one of the suspects was described as wearing a white t-shirt with blood on it. The other suspect was wearing a black shirt with a floral print on it and blue jeans.
Olszevski said the area was very busy at the time of the shooting with people on the street, on streetcars and buses, and in cars. Officers have spoken to a lot of witnesses and are canvassing the area, but are asking for anyone with dashcam or security camera footage from the area to contact them.
Anyone with information is asked to contact 55 Division at 416-808-5500.
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