Homicide detectives are investigating after a body was found outside a restaurant in the downtown core on Sunday morning.
Investigators say the lifeless body of a man was found outside a commercial building on Lippincott Street, near Bathurst and College streets, at around 8 a.m.
“The body was found by people in the neighbourhood this morning. They were coming to work and observed this and called police,” Det. Shawn Mahoney told reporters on Sunday afternoon.
The man was found with "obvious signs of trauma," Mahoney said, but the cause of death has not yet been released.
Police initially said the death was being treated as 'suspicious' but Mahoney confirmed that the incident has now been ruled a homicide.
The victim is believed to be between 20 and 25 years old.
“We have a tentative identification. We haven’t notified any family members and that process is ongoing at this point,” Mahoney said.
“The post-mortem is scheduled for tomorrow and I will have a definitive cause of death then. At this point I can’t comment on the means of death.”
The owner of a restaurant in the area told CP24 at the scene that it was one of his employees who first discovered the body on the restaurant's patio.
“We tried to help the person and the person was unresponsive," he said.
"Shortly after that the ambulance showed up and the police.”
Another witness in the area told reporters that he heard some type of commotion going on outside last night but didn’t call 911.
"I thought someone had been pushed through the patio fence because last time I looked out there it was standing and when I looked at it again it had fallen," he said.
"I got up and I stood there and stared outside for like 10 minutes... It seemed like nothing had happened."
He added that fights in the neighbourhood are a regular occurrence.
“It’s pretty traumatic because I feel like every Friday and Saturday night there is basically a fight out there and I always want to call the police but I never do and the one time something actually happens I had the same feeling and I didn’t call anybody," he said.
Mahoney said police are not yet able to provide any information about possible suspects.
“We’ve heard from witnesses at this point that something did occur last night. It may have involved an altercation and that’s why we are appealing for the witnesses,” Mahoney added.
“We know it was a warm Saturday night in Toronto and a lot of people were out.”
He said that police are looking at security video in the area to try to piece together what happened.
Officers will also be canvassing the neighbourhood to see if anyone heard or saw anything overnight.
“The investigation is in its infancy,” Mahoney said. “I expect we will be here until the early evening hours tonight.”
