Police cordoned off the site of Tuesday night's downtown shooting. (Mike Moynihan/CBC)

A man who was shot in the face and blinded while walking in downtown Calgary was an innocent bystander, police said Wednesday.

The 24-year-old Brazilian student was walking with his girlfriend in the 500 block of Centre Street South near the James Short parking garage at 10 p.m. Tuesday when he was hit in the face by a single bullet, Chief Rick Hanson said.

The shot came from a park down the street where the shooting suspect and two other people were in an altercation, likely over drugs, said Hanson.

The student, who has been in Calgary studying for six months, has permanently lost his eyesight, the chief said.

"This type of senseless crime is just unfathomable," said Hanson. "This person was doing nothing but coming from a dinner, walking down the street and as a result of something totally unrelated to what he's doing, something that he had no part in, and now he's going to have to face the consequences of that for the rest of his life."

'Last night, one of our worst fears came true.'—Rick Hanson, Calgary police chief

The suspect fled the scene on foot. He's described as Caucasian, about six feet tall, with a shaved head and slim build. He was wearing a long-sleeved, light-coloured dress shirt.

Hanson said police had been dreading a case like this in light of several drug- and gang-related shootings the past few months.

"Last night, one of our worst fears came true. An innocent bystander was seriously injured as a result of a shooting incident in our city," the chief said Wednesday.

Tuesday's incident was the first of three shootings in the Calgary area within a 14-hour period.

With files from Peter Akman