A packed summer street festival in Toronto descended into terror Saturday night when gunfire ripped through the crowd.

Two men were killed and multiple others were wounded at Salsa on St. Clair, a popular celebration that had drawn thousands of people into the city’s west end.

The first warning from police was blunt: active shooter, multiple injuries, stay away.

That alert went out while officers were still racing into a chaotic scene and frightened festivalgoers were running for cover.

The Associated Press reported that emergency calls began around 8:12 p.m. near St. Clair Avenue West and Arlington Avenue. Two men were pronounced dead after the shooting, while four additional people were reported wounded in the police briefing covered by the outlet.

ADVERTISEMENT

Investigators later said the gunfire appeared to have been exchanged between two people who were targeting each other inside the crowded festival. Police said they did not believe a lone gunman was moving through the event firing randomly, despite the urgent language of the first public warning.

That distinction explains how the response evolved. It does nothing to lessen the damage done when armed people opened fire in a place packed with families, dancers, vendors and children.

Two firearms were recovered from the scene. Police had announced no arrests by the time of the late-night briefing, and the names of the dead and wounded had not been released.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow condemned the violence and thanked the officers, paramedics and firefighters who rushed into the area. She called the shooting horrific and stressed that a family celebration had been shattered by gunfire.

Video recorded inside the festival captures the panic as attendees hear shots and begin running through the street. The casualty figure written into the early post below was overtaken by later police updates, but the footage itself shows the terror that swept through the crowd:

CityNews Toronto, which continued updating its report into Sunday morning, said the public casualty count changed several times as officers worked through multiple scenes and hospitals reported additional victims.

The outlet’s latest count listed seven people shot in total: two men dead and at least five others injured. The Associated Press had earlier reported four wounded, reflecting how quickly the tally was changing during the first hours of the investigation.

Police issued the active-shooter warning at approximately 8:20 p.m. and said the immediate area had been secured shortly after 9 p.m. Deputy Chief Frank Barredo described an active and chaotic scene, with officers trying to find victims, preserve evidence and determine exactly how the shooting unfolded.

Barredo said investigators believed two armed people had been firing at each other. The homicide squad and the city’s guns and gangs unit were both assigned to the case, with numerous shell casings and separate crime scenes left behind across the festival area.

ADVERTISEMENT

By Sunday morning, police still had not publicly identified a suspect or announced an arrest. Detectives were reviewing video, interviewing witnesses and asking anyone with footage from the crowd to preserve it.

Global News reported that an estimated 13,000 people were attending Salsa on St. Clair when the shooting began. The size of that crowd helps explain both the initial fear of an active shooter and the enormous challenge facing investigators.

One witness told the outlet that he heard roughly seven shots before seeing people sprint away. Others dropped to the pavement or hid behind whatever cover they could find as police and emergency crews poured into the neighborhood.

Salsa on St. Clair has been held for more than two decades and bills itself as Canada’s largest Latino-themed cultural celebration. The weekend normally fills the street with live music, dancing, food and families from across the city.

Instead, Saturday night ended with blood on the pavement, two families facing an unimaginable loss and several more waiting beside hospital beds.

The festival’s final day was canceled while police continued processing the sprawling scene.

A street built for dancing is now a homicide scene.

The people who fired into that crowd still have to be found, and the families whose night ended in horror deserve answers.

This remains a developing story.

ADVERTISEMENT

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

What are your thoughts?

READER POLL: SHOULD BARACK AND MICHELLE OBAMA STAY OUT OF POLITICS? vote now

TAP HERE TO ADD YOUR VOTE

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.