Two killed in mass shooting at Canada’s largest Latin street festival in Toronto, police say

Two people were killed and several others injured after at least two shooters exchanged gunfire amid large crowds at Canada’s biggest Latin street festival in Toronto on Saturday, police said.

A total of six people were shot, and several suspects remain at large, Toronto Police Service Deputy Chief Frank Barredo said at a news conference late Saturday.

Police have cordoned off three crime scenes and recovered two firearms, but there is no ongoing threat to the public, Barredo added.

“This seemed to be an exchange of gunfire between two individuals targeting each other,” Barredo said.

Festivalgoers ran down sidewalks from the scene, restricted by yellow tape, as scores of black police SUVs and patrol cars, heavy-duty armored vehicles and ambulances sped toward it, CTV footage showed.

Police said they secured the scene roughly an hour after the shooting began but continued to urge people to stay away from the area in the city’s midtown, where the Salsa on St. Clair multiday festival celebrating Latin culture has been held annually for 22 years, according to organizers.

“This was a reckless, despicable act of violence at a crowded festival. I will ensure Toronto Police have every resource they need to find those responsible, and they will keep working around the clock to get guns off our streets,” Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said in a statement on X.

Chow and police are urging any festival attendees with footage or information to contact police.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement he is “horrified” by the deadly shooting at the busy Toronto festival. “My prayers are with the families grieving their loved ones … and everyone who has been affected by this horrific event,” Carney wrote.

While deadly gun violence is less common in Canada than in the US, it still ravages communities.

Less than three weeks ago, the country was devastated by another mass shooting when a gunman opened fire in Montreal. A subsequent shootout with police killed two people in broad daylight and marked the first time a Montreal officer has been killed in the line of duty in two decades.

The shooting took place in a country with far stronger gun laws compared to the US and where mass shootings are infrequent. After Canada suffered its most deadly shooting in Nova Scotia in 2020, where 22 people were killed, the government put in place major reforms and bans on assault-style weapons.

As reported by CNN