Two men are dead, and a woman was injured after being shot during a daytime shooting in downtown Toronto on Tuesday afternoon, police say.
In an update, Det. Sgt. Tiffany Castell said a male is now in custody and a gun has been recovered.
Global News sources have confirmed the person in custody is Benedict Kongolo.
Police said all victims and the suspect are related, but investigators won’t disclose the nature of their relationships at this time.
Toronto police said their investigation involves two crime scenes, one on Arnold Avenue and one at Dundas and Parliament.
Emergency crews responded to the scene at 1:28 p.m. When officers arrived, they located three people suffering from gunshot wounds, including two adult males and one adult female.
Police said one male victim died at the scene and the second male was pronounced dead in hospital. The female victim was also taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
A Global News cameraman saw emergency crews performing CPR on one of the victims who was being taken to hospital.
Police haven’t released the ages of the victims and said they won’t release their names until the next of kin have been notified.
Castell said when officers attended the scene, they located a suspect and started a foot pursuit.
During the pursuit, two officers were also injured “in an altercation”. Both officers were taken to hospital with varying injuries. Castell said one officer injured their arm and the other injured their leg.
“Thankfully, they’re okay,” she said, noting that one officer had already been discharged from the hospital.
At this point, police say they are not looking for any other suspects but are asking witnesses to come forward.
Castell added that police will be laying first-degree murder charges against the suspect.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow released a statement about the incident, saying that she was “deeply saddened.”
“My heart goes out to the families and community. I wish a speedy recovery to the injured officers,” Chow said in a post on X. “I’ve spoken with the Chief to express gratitude for the officers’ swift action in apprehending the suspect.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Toronto police at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
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