Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says she is “deeply troubled” by a mass shooting in the city’s east end that left 12 people injured, half of them with serious injuries.
Chow said she was working at city hall late Friday night when news broke about the shooting. She has been in touch with the Toronto police and has been getting regular updates, she said.
She said 12 people were injured, including six with serious gunshot wounds.
“It is troubling because of the magnitude of the shootings and the number of people hurt, and I don’t want to speculate as to the why and how,” Chow told reporters Saturday morning at a news conference.
Supt. Paul MacIntyre of Organized Crime Enforcement told reporters at the scene of the shooting Friday night that at 10:39 p.m. three masked men—one armed with an assault rifle and the other two with handguns—walked into the bar and opened fire “indiscriminately” on the people sitting at Piper Arms at 520 Progress Avenue.
The motive for the shooting remains unclear and police are chasing down all leads, including looking for a vehicle used by the suspects, he said. The victims range from 20s to mid-50s, he added.
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“I can tell you, this was a brazen and reckless act of violence that’s really shaken our community and the city itself,” he said.
Painting a picture of the scene inside the restaurant after watching surveillance videos, MacIntyre said it was “kind of eerie.”
“These guys just looked at the crowd and opened fire. It was horrible.”
People who were sitting at tables that had food and drinks, or standing at the bar suddenly ducked for cover as shots rang out while others ran to the basement, he said.
“It looks like we had a mass casualty shooting inside a pub,” he said.
“The drinks are still on the table. The food is still on the table. People’s purses, shoes are still in there. There’s a lot of damage to the walls. There’s glass walls that are shattered. There’s blood all over the floor. … It’s a messy scene.”
On Saturday morning, yellow police caution tape and a few police cars marked the quiet scene. There were no people around.
Scarborough Centre Coun. Michael Thompson visited the site early Saturday.
“The gun violence that occurred in this particular establishment last night will and has left a mark not only to the community but to those people who were immediately affected by the incident that occurred,” he said.
“It must have been extremely frightening for all those people who were celebrating and enjoying themselves and having a good time when this brazened and cowardly act was conducted on those attending this opening of this new business in the community.”
Shortly around noon, two servers showed up at the restaurant, assuming they would be working their shifts. One of them was wearing her uniform, black with the yellow logo of the pub.
Pooja Reddy said she was on the schedule as a host and food runner and was stunned to hear about the shooting.
She described the place as “really very pretty” with a fireplace and large dining areas.
“I’ve been here a couple of times for training and today was supposed to be my first shift,” she said.
“It’s very shocking and I feel very bad for whatever happened. They were just sitting there eating. They did not deserve to have a fate like that.”
