As many as 15 young people were involved in a wild shooting spree that killed a teenage girl and injured six others in a packed downtown Toronto area on the busiest shopping day of the year, police said Tuesday.
Det. Sgt. Savas Kyriacou told a news conference that an intense police investigation is underway following the Boxing Day shooting.
Police cordoned off the site of the shooting, on Yonge Street in the core of Toronto's downtown shopping district.
Kyriacou called the violence despicable and tragic.
"It was a tragic loss and a tragic day," he said.
"I say tragic because it's a day when Toronto has finally lost its innocence. "
The shooting happened just before dinnertime Monday as shoppers crowded the sidewalks of Yonge Street, just north of the tourist-heavy Eaton Centre shopping mall.
A 15-year-old girl, whose name has not yet been released, was shopping with her family when she was hit by a bullet. Earlier reports had said she was 19.
The teen was declared dead in hospital following the 5:19 p.m. shooting. Witnesses said she had been standing outside a Foot Locker store when she was shot in the head.
One man working at the sporting-goods store's cash register said people began rushing in seeking safety.
Saw girl on ground
"I just came out and I saw a girl lying (down)," he said. "She was bloody on the ground"
Six other people – described by police as four males and two females – were taken to hospital. "One person, a male, is in critical condition," Kyriacou said.
"We're treating all people who were injured as innocent bystanders," he said, adding that "a number of people have provided us with information."
Police officers said they arrested two young men and seized a gun.
Busy road closed
A section of Yonge Street – normally a busy north-south thoroughfare in the heart of downtown – remained closed Tuesday as police continued their investigation.
Police arrested two young men within an hour of the shooting at a nearby subway station, where they recovered a gun, but they weren't yet certain if they were involved in the violence.
No charges have been laid yet.
Police added that more guns could have been involved and there could be more arrests.
10-15 people may have been involved
Police said they believe the gunfire broke out between two groups, with 10 to 15 people in their late teens to early 20s involved in an exchange of gunfire on busy Yonge Street.
News of the shooting shocked the city, which has been reeling from a mounting toll of gun violence this past year.
There has already been a record number of gun-related deaths this year in Toronto – 52 – reported by Dec. 26, out of 78 slayings in total.
Mayor David Miller said in a statement he was "saddened and angered that such a brazen act of senseless violence would be perpetrated on Toronto's main street on Boxing Day."
Gun violence in Toronto has become an issue in the federal election campaign.
Political issue
In early December, Prime Minister Paul Martin chose Toronto to announce plans to introduce a law that would virtually ban handgun ownership across Canada, and double minimum prison sentences for some offences.
On Tuesday, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper addressed the shootings during a stop in Calgary.
Harper said Martin's call for a ban on handguns is not the answer, and that the government should be enforcing laws already on the books.
Anti-violence advocates have also expressed their dismay and anger over the shooting.
"What's happening here is that you have perpetrators taking control of city streets," Delores Lawrence, an anti-gun violence advocate, told CBC News on Tuesday.
"They are lawless, fearless and they don't care," she said.
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