Shooting leaves five dead in Canada

A shooting at an apartment building on the outskirts of the Canadian city of Toronto on Sunday evening. night, left five dead and one woundedor, police reported.

The 73-year-old alleged shooter, whom authorities have not identified but said was a resident of the building located in the town of Vaughan, He was shot dead by police officers who responded to emergency calls.

Police were summoned to the site, some 30 kilometers north of Toronto, at approximately 7:20 p.m. local time. Kristy Denette, a spokeswoman for the Ontario Special Investigation Unit, said that “an officer shot against the man and killed him” in a hallway.

He noted that around 8:00 p.m., the suspect was pronounced dead at the scene and police recovered a semi-automatic pistol. “There were multiple deceased located on several floorsof the building, he added.

The injured person was taken to the hospital in serious condition, according to a statement, but his life is not in danger.

Earlier, local police chief Jim MacSween told reporters that when officers arrived at the building they were met with “a horrific scene, with numerous victims dead”.

Police are investigating the motive for the killing and whether there was a specific connection between the victims and the suspect, who allegedly acted alone.
“It was a horrible tragedy,” said Steven Del Duca, Vaughan’s mayor. “It’s something I never thought I’d see here (…) especially a few days before Christmas and the beginning of Hanukkah,” he added.

On his side, the federal Minister of Public Security tweeted: “My thoughts are with the loved ones of those who were killed”.

Despite experiencing substantially fewer mass shootings than its neighbor the United States, Canada has seen an increase in gun violence, which is why it recently passed legislation to ban firearms.

In April 2020, a gunman disguised as a policeman killed 22 people in the eastern province of Nova Scotia, Canada’s worst mass shooting.

In September this year, a man killed 11 people and stabbed 18 others, mostly in an isolated Indian community in Saskatchewan.

Violent firearms-related crimes account for less than 3% of all such crimes, but since 2009, the per capita rate of weapons fired with the intent to kill or injure increased fivefold.

Canada banned 1,500 types of assault or military-grade firearms in May 2020, days after the Nova Scotia shooting.

The Canadian Parliament is currently considering adding more guns to its list of prohibited weapons, but progressives in power they have faced rejection from hunters and those who practice sport shooting.