Maria Voci and Christopher de Simone dead in Vaughan café shooting

Police hope surveillance video will help them identify the gunman who opened fire in a Vaughan, Ont., café early Wednesday morning, killing two people and wounding two others.

York Regional Police have little to go on, other than a description of a dark-skinned man who fled the scene in a dark-coloured compact car.

But investigators are hoping video footage captured near the Moka espresso bar, where the gunfire broke out around 8:15 a.m., will provide some clues.

Maria Voci, 47, and Christopher de Simone, 24, both of Vaughan, were identified as the two people killed in the attack. Both were pronounced dead at the scene, York Regional Police Const. Andy Pattenden said. 

The two others were taken to hospital. Pattenden said at 1 p.m. ET that one person is in stable condition and the other is in life-threatening condition.

"The information that we have is that a man arrived here and began shooting," Pattenden said. 

Voci worked at café

Friends of Voci said she worked at the café where she was killed and loved her work, treating the coffee spot like it was her own place.

"She was absolutely beautiful, gorgeous inside and out," said Sonya Soparker, a friend and former neighbour who knew Voci for around 20 years.

Soparker said Voci has three sons.

Vlada Khovaylo, a neighbour of Voci's, said she still can't believe the news.

"I hope it's a mistake," she said.

Former colleagues of de Simone, who used to work at the Da Vinci Banquet Hall in Woodbridge, shared images of the young, smiling man late Wednesday. The colleagues say de Simone met his wife at the hall.

Earlier, a CBC News camera was rolling when de Simone's distraught wife arrived outside the café frantically trying to reach him.

Area hit by violence before

Several people, who declined to give their names, called the shooting sad, but said violence has struck the area before.

This is the fourth shooting in this area in just over a year, and there was another shooting on Wednesday morning in the Islington and Steeles area. Police said the second shooting was unrelated to the first.

So far, police say there's nothing to link the Moka café shooting to organized crime.

"It's way too early in the investigation to be tying anything to that," said Pattenden.

CBC's Linda Ward reported from the scene that distraught people arrived in the morning and were looking for loved ones.

Pattenden said the homicide unit is canvassing the area for video surveillance. Police are appealing for anyone who saw anything to come forward, and for people with dashcams who drove through the area to review their footage. 

On Wednesday afternoon, police confirmed that there had been another shooting about two kilometres south of the Moka café, but Pattenden said he has no indication the two incidents are related.