A man is dead after police surrounded an armed suspect in the Sherbourne Street and Wellesley Street East area Wednesday afternoon.
Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, is investigating the incident and stated in a news release that a man was fatally shot at about 1:45 p.m. after officers approached him.
Emergency Medical Services spokeswoman Kim McKinnon confirmed a middle-aged man with a gunshot wound was pronounced dead at the scene and said the coroner was notified.
It is not confirmed whether the dead man was the suspect.
Toronto police constable Victor Kwong said police received a call at 12:30 p.m. for an unwanted male and began chasing him on foot.
Surrounding buildings were evacuated and a local school was on lock-down after the man, armed with a gun, hid between buildings near 437 Sherbourne St., Kwong said. The officers chasing him knew his identity but Kwong could not confirm it.
The police’s emergency task force was deployed and emerged from an alley with a person on a stretcher.
With reporting from Michael Duncan and Mohamed Omar and Diana Hall.
Photos from the scene:
Sahar was the Online Managing Editor of Ryersonian.ca. She graduated from Ryerson in 2014.