Two male victims in their 20s were located at the scene with gunshot wounds. Both were transported to hospital, where one remains in life-threatening condition. The other has serious but non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
Police say a third shooting victim, also a man in his 20s, was later dropped off at a local hospital in a personal vehicle. There, he received medical attention but died of his injuries.
“Although the investigation is in its infancy essentially, we do have sufficient information to lead us to believe that that individual who was dropped off at hospital was present here at the scene during the interaction,” said Toronto Police Service Duty Inspector Mike Hayles at the scene.
The shooting took place in one of the mall’s covered parking lots, on the north side of the building, and investigators believe that at least one vehicle was involved. At the scene this afternoon, evidence markers could be seen surrounding a black sedan with its doors open.
“Contained within the scene behind me, there are several vehicles, but there is one vehicle in particular that we are focusing our efforts on,” Hayles said.
“We do believe that that one vehicle was involved, however, undetermined at this point is how many other vehicles may or may not have been involved because we did have people that fled the scene.”
Police tape in the parking lot at Fairview Mall after a deadly shooting on March 20, 2023 (CTV News Toronto/ Beth Macdonell).
Hayles said that no suspect descriptions are available at this time.
“We do believe that suspects did flee the scene and our investigators are on scene working diligently to try to identify those persons or person that may have been responsible for this incident,” Hayles said.
“Because of the nature of this shooting – occurring during the day – we do have information indicating that several people are seen fleeing the scene, both on foot and in vehicle. Here's the difficulty: we don't know which of those people are going to be persons of interest, and which of those people were simply witnesses in the area fleeing the scene of a daytime shooting.”
Hayles says a quick response from mall security and first responders ensured that the incident was contained to the parking structure, and there was no threat to the safety of the patrons in the mall.
“Having said that,” Hayles added. “There were clearly people that were in the area outside when the shooting occurred, and they were certainly put at risk and that is very concerning to us.”
“The public can anticipate seeing a heightened police presence over the course of the next couple of hours and days to help us assist in bringing those individuals that are responsible for this incident to justice.”
Officers remain on scene and are currently canvassing the area for witnesses and information. Hayles says that police are also reviewing mall video footage from the area during the time of the shooting.
Investigators are asking anyone with information or anyone who may have captured dashcam footage in the area to contact police, or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
Police tape in the parking lot at Fairview Mall after a deadly shooting on March 20, 2023 (CTV News Toronto/ Beth Macdonell).
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Police tape in the parking lot at Fairview Mall after a deadly shooting on March 20, 2023 (CTV News Toronto/ Beth Macdonell).
Police tape in the parking lot at Fairview Mall after a deadly shooting on March 20, 2023 (CTV News Toronto/ Beth Macdonell). 
