One killed, five wounded in Toronto shooting
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-27 10:48

At least six people were shot Monday on a busy downtown street in Canada's bustling commercial city of Toronto, leaving one dead and two others fatally wounded.

Shots that rang out from a passing BMW killed one instantly and wounded five at about 5:15 p.m. local time on Yonge Street near the popular Eaton Centre shopping mall, which was crowded with Boxing Day shoppers, local media reported.

Four were taken to hospital and another person suffered minor injuries that did not require hospital treatment, witnesses said. A report by Canadian Press said one of the wounded was an off-duty police officer who was shot in the leg.

Two suspects were arrested and at least one firearm was seized a short time later at a nearby subway station, police said.

Police could not immediately confirm whether the victims were targeted or injured by random gunfire.

"Someone said they were shot and everyone went to the back of the store," said Magnolia Sandoval, an employee at a camera store.

Another witness said he saw two men in a BMW leaning out the windows and firing shots.

Emergency vehicles were crowded around the scene, which was cordoned off with yellow police tape.

The busy downtown area, popular with tourists, was also the site of two other shootings this year.

On a Saturday night in late July, a man was fatally shot in a crowd of about 1,000 people at Dundas Square despite heavy police presence.

On a Sunday afternoon in April, three people, including two bystanders,were wounded after a gunman opened fire on another man on the same stretch of street where Monday's shootings occurred.

Gun violence has been rising noticeably in Toronto in recent years, where unemployment rate keeps going up and disparity between the rich and poor widens. There have been 78 murders in Toronto this year, including a record 52 by gunfire.