Police identify gunman behind Toronto shooting spree

Thirteen other people were wounded – five in a serious or critical condition, with three needing life-saving operations.

However, Hussain, 29, struggled with severe mental illness, battled depression and psychosis, his parents, Farooq and Fakhara Hussain, wrote in a statement Monday evening.

Saunders declined to discuss that portion of the investigation, telling reporters that Ottawa’s Special Investigations Unit is mandated to probe officer-involved incidents.

“My thoughts are with everyone affected by the bad tragedy on the Danforth last night in Toronto, and may the injured make a full recovery”, Trudeau said on Twitter.

John Tulloch said he and his brother had just left their auto when he heard about 20 to 30 gunshots.

Jody Steinhauer was celebrating her birthday with family at a restaurant when they heard ten to 15 shots. “There was a woman coming in off the street yelling, ‘Help me!” He did not name the victims, who included eight women and girls, and seven men.

Fallon graduated from Malvern Collegiate Institute just last month, said John Malloy of the Toronto District School Board.

“It could be victims who are directly impacted who were there, it could be the families of the injured, the families of the deceased, individuals working in the area, passing by, or people deeply impacted by just hearing about this”, she said.

Fourteen people plus the shooter were struck in what police described as an “exchange of gunfire”. Servers and fellow patrons provided first aid and held her hand until paramedics arrived, he said. They ran to the back to the restaurant and hid under a table. Toronto police spokesman Meaghan Gray said early Monday that a second victim had died, though there were no further details.

Police have revealed next to no information about Hussain or his motives, but said they are investigating the case from all angles.

Ms Fletcher said for this to happen in an area where families gather for dinner is a tragedy.

The police would not immediately identify the motive behind the shooting.

Toronto Mayor John Tory made an impassioned statement to his City Council on Monday following the deadly shooting in a popular Toronto neighborhood the night before.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that he would be keeping the city in his thoughts in the aftermath of the shooting and that Canadians would be standing by the city. Deaths from gun violence has jumped 53 per cent to 26 so far this year from the same period last year, police data last week showed, with the number of shootings rising 13 per cent.

Just two days before the shooting, Toronto had deployed 200 more officers on the streets of at-risk neighborhoods between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m.in an effort to reduce gun violence.