Two people were killed and at least four others injured during a shooting at a street festival in Toronto on Saturday evening, local police said.
Gunshots rang out as hundreds were gathered for a block party called Salsa on St. Clair, a marquee event on the city’s summer calendar for the past 22 years. Emergency crews were called at 8:12 p.m. to a part of midtown that had been shut down for the festival.
Two people were pronounced dead on scene and six people were shot in total, the police said. They urged residents to avoid the area and follow authorities’ directions.
There was an exchange of gunfire between an unknown number of people, and two firearms were recovered, Deputy Chief Frank Barredo of the Toronto Police said at a news conference just after 11 p.m. “This was a very chaotic scene,” he said, adding that the festival expected 13,000 people.
The shooters are still at large.
“I’m deeply disturbed and angry about this reckless, irresponsible act of violence,” Olivia Chow, Toronto’s mayor, told reporters.
Salsa on St. Clair is one of Toronto’s most popular summer attractions, filling the streets with live music, food stands and salsa dancing.
In recent years, it seems to have outgrown the few blocks it normally occupied, raising concerns in the community of traffic congestion and an apparent lack of security, said Michael Wacholtz, a real estate broker who has lived in the neighborhood for two decades.
“It’s an anomaly, and this is not representative of our city,” said Mr. Wacholtz, who had just walked home with his daughter a few minutes before the shooting started and sirens blared outside. “I’m a little bit in shock.”
Mass shootings in public spaces are rare in Toronto. In July 2018, a gunman opened fire onto a bustling street in the city’s Greektown neighborhood, killing two girls aged 10 and 18, and injuring 13 others.
Yan Zhuang contributed reporting.