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Toronto's Eaton Centre evacuated after food-court shooting

A shooting in the Eaton Centre food court has left one dead and eight others injured.

Two more are in critical condition in hospital, according to Constable Victor Kwong. Some were injured due to trampling as people fled the area.

The area around the mall, Toronto’s largest shopping centre in the downtown core, was quickly blocked off and the Eaton Centre itself was evacuated and closed down.

Ujjawal Patel, 28, said he was inside the Eaton Centre when he heard 12 to 15 shots ring out. He quickly fled.

"I was so scared," said Mr. Patel. "If if can happen in the Eaton Centre it can happen anywhere."

Marcus Neves-Polonio, a 19-year-old busser at the food court, says he was walking when a guy took out a gun and started firing near the Big Smoke Burger.

Mr. Neves-Polonio says he witnessed someone being shot right in the chest.

He says he saw two people on the ground but thinks as many as four or five have been hurt.

He ducked under a table. "I just hoped he wouldn't go in my direction," he said. "I easily could have been shot, too."

The scene became "mayhem" as people scattered, running for the doors, said Mr. Neves-Polonio.

One of the first to report the shooting was Toronto Blue Jays player Brett Lawrie, via Twitter.

CP24 reported that police were shouting to people telling them to get out of the building and that the shooter was still in the shopping mall.

There were at least a dozen police cars at one corner of the Eaton Centre and at least five ambulances were heading to the scene.

The Toronto police tactical squad was the scene.

Police were trying to clear out thousands of people who were milling around outside, mostly trying to figure out what happened.

Police did not immediately comment on exactly what happened.

It’s not the first time the area has seen gunfire.

In 2005, a 15-year-old woman was killed and six others were wounded on Boxing Day, 2005, when shots rang out just north of the shopping centre.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ted-after-food-court-shooting/article4226794/
 
From @ProjectBLT on twitter:

Here's what we know about the victims according to police :

8 victims, 1 dead, 2 critical, 1 life-threatening. Shooter at large.

8th victim: female, minor injuries from bullet grazing

7th victim: pregnant woman, minor injuries, now in labour

6th victim: female, serious condition from gunfire

5th victim: male, serious condition from gun fire

4th victim: female, serious condition from gunfire

3rd victim: 13-year-old boy in critical condition from gunfire

2nd injury: male, 20, in critical condition from gunfire

1 dead male, 25, from gunfire.


Crazy.....
 
I was in Sears when it happened. Very disappointed in the way it was handled. There was no alarm, no evacuation. We had no idea what was going on or what to do. People were literally running and crying. I never thought something like this would happen there.
 
I was in Sears when it happened. Very disappointed in the way it was handled. There was no alarm, no evacuation. We had no idea what was going on or what to do. People were literally running and crying. I never thought something like this would happen there.

It's not really surprising. There was a gunfire problem at one of the downtown subway station earlier this week. Subway shootings seem pretty popular too. I think there was a gunfire problem at Dundas Square earlier this year or last year. But I don't think those people are from downtown. They travelled downtown to shoot.
 
I walked passed the Eaton Centre with all the crowds there. I finally found out on the news there was a shooting at the food court when I got home. I mean I feel it is kind of pointless for the suspect to shoot at bystanders considering there are security cameras all over the place.
 
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The Eaton Centre is a magnet for trouble, not unlike most large shopping malls. Thankfully this doesn't happen more often with the gun problem that we have in Toronto.
George Bush freaked out when marijuana was being debated by Chrétien because Canada's border was too close for his comfort with the US and if I recall he even threatened trade restrictions if it were legalized here. If I were Chrétien I'd have shot back (no pun intended) about their insane gun culture. What does more damage every day, a country with people smoking safe government grown, sold & taxed weed or a country with millions of packed citizens? Check the stats.
 
Toronto doesn't have a "gun problem"... it's not even on the top 10 most dangerous cities in the country.

It amazed me what technology can do these days when I found out about the shooting minutes after it happened from across the Atlantic Ocean due to following Lawrie on Twitter.. Think that would have been possible less than a decade ago? Nope.

Crazy though, I hope the injured are alright and the scumbag who opened fire in such a public place is found and brought to justice. Reminded me all too much of the Jane Creba shooting years ago.
 
Toronto doesn't have a "gun problem"... it's not even on the top 10 most dangerous cities in the country.

Toronto is absolutely safe, but it has an escalating gun problem. Have you seen the news of the huge cache of firearms that the Police/RCMP find when they raid the residences of drug dealers and gang bangers? These are more than just shotguns and handguns too. Even Blair (for what he's worth) has stated that Toronto has a gun problem.
Now I still can't figure out where the shooting happened. Was it the north or south food court? I've been hearing on the news and reading that it was the south, then the north then back to the south and the Toronto Star says the food court at Dundas Street by Sport Chek, but isn't Sport Chek at Queen Street or did they move? They also mention McDonalds at the north end of the mall, I thought it was also at Queen Street. Further, they now say there was a "commotion" at the Queen Street entrance, whatever that means.
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1205036--shooting-reported-at-eaton-centre?bn=1
 
Now I still can't figure out where the shooting happened. Was it the north or south food court? I've been hearing on the news and reading that it was the south, then the north then back to the south and the Toronto Star says the food court at Dundas Street by Sport Chek, but isn't Sport Chek at Queen Street or did they move? They also mention McDonalds at the north end of the mall, I thought it was also at Queen Street. Further, they now say there was a "commotion" at the Queen Street entrance, whatever that means.
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1205036--shooting-reported-at-eaton-centre?bn=1

The south food court area and the McDonalds facing Queen are closed as part of the mall renovation. The north food court was renovated last year and re-opened several months ago. Sport Check moved to a location adjacent to the north food court.

The commotion at the Queen Street end was related to the crush of people trying to get out.
 
Toronto is absolutely safe, but it has an escalating gun problem. Have you seen the news of the huge cache of firearms that the Police/RCMP find when they raid the residences of drug dealers and gang bangers? These are more than just shotguns and handguns too. Even Blair (for what he's worth) has stated that Toronto has a gun problem.
Now I still can't figure out where the shooting happened. Was it the north or south food court? I've been hearing on the news and reading that it was the south, then the north then back to the south and the Toronto Star says the food court at Dundas Street by Sport Chek, but isn't Sport Chek at Queen Street or did they move? They also mention McDonalds at the north end of the mall, I thought it was also at Queen Street. Further, they now say there was a "commotion" at the Queen Street entrance, whatever that means.
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1205036--shooting-reported-at-eaton-centre?bn=1

Is it not in Blairs best interest to say their is a gun problem and without the police toronto would face a gang run armagedon$ its a delf serving statement which causes us to hire more unionized cops when our murder numbers have gone down every year since creba. This isn't late 80s manhatten or modern day detroit. Toronto is safe. And for the record I worked the last four years with people in government housing from jane and finch. So I'm pretty sure I have a clue about what's going on and what's propaganda.
 
Toronto is safe. And for the record I worked the last four years with people in government housing from jane and finch.

I wonder if gun crime at Jane and Finch is shifting away from the area and stretching out to the other areas. It seems like every so often there's a gunfire somewhere like STC, downtown subways or at Yonge and Dundas area. With subways, it's easier to travel. I wonder if it will get worse with the extended Spadina extension.

As for the reasons why they are going to busy places to shoot, maybe it's for fame? Easier to hide in large crowds and escape after a shooting?

Guns doesn't seem hard to come by when there's news saying there's shootings in schools as well. Even children can get their hands on guns (from their parents).
 
I wonder if gun crime at Jane and Finch is shifting away from the area and stretching out to the other areas. It seems like every so often there's a gunfire somewhere like STC, downtown subways or at Yonge and Dundas area. With subways, it's easier to travel. I wonder if it will get worse with the extended Spadina extension.

As for the reasons why they are going to busy places to shoot, maybe it's for fame? Easier to hide in large crowds and escape after a shooting?

Guns doesn't seem hard to come by when there's news saying there's shootings in schools as well. Even children can get their hands on guns (from their parents).

I'm not denying shootings occur or how easy it seems to get a gun. What I am saying is that there is no epidemic despite what ppl will say after a shooting. We have so much media in our world that if anything happens we know about it. Even when there was just news and radio we wouldn't have gotten pictures instantly via facebook or twitter to our phones. All the extra media can make one extra paranoid.

Sure the shootings are spreading out. And yes transit is making a difference. But that's not a reason to not build transit. -ts not a reason to push the ghetto even more so in the corner. The typical boy who ends up in a gang in jane and finch comes from a rough home. He or she probably doesn't have much money and is likely not doing well in school. The other side of the media tells ppl that they have to get rich. All our shows circle around celebrities and the rich and famous. A house with a car is not success anymore. Today its private jets and owning your own business. Maybe people from stable back grounds get that the image media presents is pure fantasy but for people in poor areas they feel like what's the point. Even if they are smart do they have the money for uni. No one in their family has been to uni can they really be the first. So the boys who enter gangs adopt the "get rich or die trying" moto. This is the only way to get rich so I'm going to try. If I die, big deal my life sucks anyway.

This is completely different then someone like myself whose entire family has gone to uni. Whose parents were able to help me with a down payment for my first condo. Who always knew a house and a car was going to be just the beginning and what happened next was up to me. The solution to a big part of problems that happen in the ghetto is simply by instilling hope that they can actually become and do something with their lives other then being generational government housing users who are looked down upon by society. If they had hope they would value themselves and not want a criminal record. If they had hope they might see uni as a actual option. Transit city is a good way of connecting areas of the city. This might not sound like much to people who can afford to drive but if you rely on transit especially bus transit life and live in a remote part of the city life can be extremely difficult. Anyways long rant but their isn't a gun problem but their is a ghetto problem and their is a transit problem and their is a hope problem.
 
I just want to say I do understand that people abuse social housing and often have big screen tvs and all sorts of luxurys that some working people do not have. But I'd like to say as upset as that makes me the systen whcihc allows for people to live in temporary housing for 30 years its what's even more annoying. Its also frusterating that I know hard working people in the area who make min wage, sometimes less, who work but have less money then ppl on government support. The reason these people work is to make sure they teach their kids that relying on the government is not acceptable when you can work. That's respectable but its criminal that they are working but have less money since they need to pay market rent and their kids don't get help with schooling and camp costs. Anyways I think housing and the rules that go along with it are a joke. All its doing is facilitating people being lazy rather then helping people find work and get out on their own.
 

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