Police shoot 2 men in downtown Toronto
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 | 8:16 AM ET
CBC News
Two men were in hospital with bullet wounds after being shot by police early Tuesday in Toronto's downtown financial district.
The shooting happened after the driver of a red Dodge Neon allegedly refused to stop for police around 2:10 a.m., the Special Investigations Unit said.
The car carrying the two men who were shot can be seen here with its door open near the unmarked police cruiser at an intersection in Toronto's Bay Street financial district.
(Geoff Ellwand/CBC)
A different police cruiser picked up the chase and followed the car west on King Street, where it crashed into an unmarked police car near Bay Street, the SIU said.
"The two officers got out of their car and were involved in a confrontation with two men inside their vehicle," said SIU spokesperson Rose Bliss. "As a result, both officers discharged their firearms."
The two men were taken to St. Michael's Hospital and were in stable condition, "but both have some serious gunshot injuries," Bliss told CBC News Online.
One of the men, described as 20 years old, was shot in the head and torso, while the other man was shot in the abdomen, the Toronto Star reported.
After the collision and shooting, the vehicles involved blocked the busy King-Bay intersection.
Officers kept a section of King Street stretching from Bay to Yonge Street cordoned off with police tape until 10:45 a.m.
Five SIU investigators and four forensic specialists have been assigned to the case.
The SIU, a civilian law enforcement agency, investigates circumstances involving police and civilians that resulted in serious injury, allegations of sexual assault and death.
