The Regent Park area of downtown Toronto was awash in bullet casings and yellow police tape Thursday morning after a suspect shot one person, then opened fire on cops and EMS crews.
Officers rolled to a downtown apartment building at about 4am after receiving initial reports of a shooting - they arrived at the Dundas St. East residence to find a victim with a gunshot wound to the arm.
Witnesses recalled hearing a cluster of shots at about that time, and five bullet casings were seen on the ground in the area.
"I woke up to a number of shots. I thought it was a car backfiring," said area resident Laura. "I said 'That sounds like gun shots.' My husband said, 'Those are gun shots.'"
At one point, the man allegedly turned his weapon on police and an ambulance taking the victim to hospital.
Cops are hunting for 23-year-old Quinn Borde, who they call armed and dangerous.
His background seems to back that up - he fled a hospital E.R. earlier this week after being shot and wounded in another incident on the streets.
The EMS driver who had to duck the flying lead knows how close he came to needing medical attention of his own. One bullet pierced the front of his ambulance.
"I was transporting, the crew was following - the crew going along Shuter, I was going down Dundas, going to meet the crew at St. Mike's," described Dist. Supervisor Brian Toshoff.
"A gentleman came out, stood in the middle of the road, and had a gun in his hand, and took two shots ... it looked like it was directly at me."
Fortunately no emergency workers were injured in the shooting spree, but the individual fled before cops had a chance to apprehend him.
Officers closed down Dundas St. East and Queen St. East from Parliament St. to Sumach St. during their hunt for the suspect.
Now they're hoping you know where Borde is.
He's described as:
- Dark complexion,
- 5'7",
- 160 lbs.,
- Beard.
Cops are urging Borde to contact a lawyer and turn himself in. And they remind anyone harbouring him they could be charged for helping him evade the dragnet.
"It's horrific that these small number of people will go out in our public space and shoot at each other," an upset Supt. Jeff McGuire laments. "And now they're shooting at the police. And that's another notch up."
It's the latest incident of gun violence in a week that's been full of them - with about a dozen separate shootings.
It's disturbing to downtown resident Tina, who was too nervous to send her child to school in the wake of Thursday's shooting.
"My youngest daughter, today's her last day of school," she said. "It's a shame, now I can't even send her to school."
Anyone with information is asked to call 51 Division at (
416) 808-5100 or Crime Stoppers at
(416) 222-TIPS (8477).
But if you spot Borde, cops say don't wait - call 911 right away.
EMS attendants face danger all the time