Police are on the hunt for four suspects after a 22-year-old man was gunned down inside a North York mall filled with shoppers early Thursday evening.

Jovane Clarke had just parked his car at North York Sheridan Mall on Jane and Wilson street when four suspects approached him, triggering a foot chase toward the mall’s entrance.

Det. Sgt. Mike Carbone said the gunfire started almost immediately by what is believed to be two gunmen.

“It’s at this point that only one of these two individuals chased the deceased into the mall,” he said.

Once inside, Carbone said the suspect continued to fire at Clarke.

Officers arrived a short time later to find the “lifeless body of a young man” suffering from several gunshot wounds.

Despite efforts to revive the man, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Surveillance video from a store in Sheridan Mall shows what appears to be the victim dart through the shopping centre’s hallways while a second person follows close behind.

Shoppers near the commotion begin to scatter and some can be seen quickly grabbing onto their children while scrambling for safety.

Soon after, the suspect is seen running back in the direction he came.

Carbone said he believes Clarke was targeted upon his arrival but have not determined a potential motive for the killing.

“We have a great deal of surveillance footage to review,” he said. “Not only do we have video from the north side of the mall, but some of the south side, which may capture that particular point a little bit.”

Investigators believe at least two of the four suspects were armed and “multiple shots” were fired, but Carbone declined to comment on the amount of casings or bullets collected.

Bullet holes were visible on the exterior of a Tim Hortons and a Dollarama located inside the mall.

As of Friday morning, about 100 cars remained parked within a police perimeter outside of the mall.

Reports from the scene indicate that at least six of those cars have visible bullet holes.

Carbone said that the owners of the vehicles parked outside the mall would be allowed to return to the lot to retrieve their vehicles today.

Investigators are hoping to obtain additional surveillance camera footage from the south side of Wilson Avenue where they believe the suspect’s getaway was captured.

“It’s quite possible they may have entered a vehicle, that’s certainly something we’re following up with,” Carbone said. “But until we’re certain they entered a vehicle, I’m not saying that’s categorically what happened. We still have a lot of work to do.”

Carbone also appealed to anyone who was in the area at the time that may have captured the shooting on a cellphone or car dashboard cameras to contact the Toronto Police Homicide Squad directly.

“This particular case is concerning,” he said. “It’s very violent. It appears that these individuals were targeting Mr. Clarke. There’s no doubt in my mind that’s who they were trying to kill. To sum it up, this is very concerning to me and to us.”

The mall was shut down in the aftermath of the shooting but reopened as scheduled Friday morning.

Witnesses told CTV News Toronto that the sound of gunshots sent shoppers scrambling for safety.

Some shoppers barricaded themselves inside the mall’s library for hours, waiting on confirmation that it was safe to come out.

Ramiro Villafuerte said it was a “typical day” for him and his two young daughters at the library inside Sheridan Mall on Thursday until he heard the sound of gunshots.

“The next thing you know, I see a lot of people running around. I hear two gunshots. We run back inside and everybody just started screaming – all the kids that were inside the library, all the parents inside,” Villafuerte told CP24.

“We all just hid under the table right away and then we heard another three more gunshots.”

Villafuerte said the eight adults and seven children secured themselves in the library for close to two hours. Without much information to go on, Villafuerte said he decided to reach out on Twitter to see if anyone knew what was going on.

“They always say you have to stay calm and all that, but I was terrified. I was shocked,” he said. “Something I never thought I’d have to tell my kids is, ‘Gun, gun, get under the table!’ You see it on the news all the time but you never think it’s going to happen in your own backyard.”

He said the group was eventually ushered out safely by a mall security guard and were shocked to see forensic vehicles and crime tape.

“My oldest had a nightmare last night. They were both shaking,” Villafuerte said. “You watch this on TV and you don’t think it’s real until your kids are there watching it and asking you, ‘What does that mean?’”

Holding back tears, Ivy Bentu said she saw the victim on the ground inside the mall.

“He looked like he was in his 20s and he just lost his life,” Bentu said. “I don’t know what (his) mommy is going to do.”

With a mall full of back-to-school shoppers, Carbone said it could have been much worse.

“We are very fortunate that no one else was hit. We talked about it amongst our team. We consider ourselves very lucky that no one else was struck,” he said.

“Other than that, I can’t comment anymore other than to say that we’re very fortunate.”