Yorkdale Mall: Toronto police respond to shots fired at shopping centre
Toronto police say they are evacuating a shopping mall that was placed on lock after gunfire was reported in the area.
Authorities received a call about the shots fired at around 2.50pm local time, and were then dispatched to the Yorkdale Shopping Centre.
There are multiple potential suspects on the loose, including two individuals who police say appeared to be in their 20s. One of the potential suspects was wielding a black handgun, according to social media accounts for the Toronto Police Department.
No injuries were immediately reported as police searched for their suspects, and began to evacuate the shopping centre where frightened shoppers were forced to shelter in place.
Some of those shoppers posted on social media, describing their experience.
“Was eating at The Cheesecake Factory when alarms started going and people started running. Stuck in the parking lot,” Travis Paul, a Twitter user who said he was at the mall, wrote on that platform.
Another user chimed in saying she was being locked in a watch store, but indicated some level of confusion about whether shots were actually fired.
"I’m in Yorkdale shots were fired ? Locked in the Rolex store for safety," that user, Kelly Freeman, wrote.
“We were right beside what happened. It happened in the area of Starbucks and Nadege. We were in the Arc’teryx store,” a man who said he was at the mall told local media. “What we heard sounded like two gunshots. When we heard that everyone started scrambling. All we could think of was head to the back of the store".
Immediately after the shooting was reported, police advised people to avoid the area as a precaution.
Aerial footage captured showed hundreds of people standing around outside of the mall after being evacuated.
The mall has said in a statement that it plans on reopening Friday morning.
"Following today’s incident, we will be closed for the rest of the day to allow police to investigate," the mall said in a statement. "Yorkdale is secure and we are cooperating with police to safely evacuate the centre. We expect to open as scheduled tomorrow morning at 10am".
