An 11-year-old boy killed early Sunday morning in Toronto was caught in gunfire that erupted between two rival gangs, Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux said.

The investigator told a press conference Ephraim Brown was killed after a dispute at a birthday party led to numerous shots being fired near Jane Street and Sheppard Avenue.

"The 11-year-old victim was caught in between two rival gangs that were shooting at each other in this particular housing complex," Giroux said.

Toronto police said they were called to the city's north end just before 1 a.m., where they found the boy. Police put other children at the party onto a bus after they arrived on the scene.

Brown's 13-year-old cousin was apparently sitting on a fence next to the victim when he was shot in the neck, CTV's Chris Eby reported.

"We just scattered, and I saw my cousin on the floor bleeding," Teshawn Nichols-Osborn said.

Giroux said as many as 70 people were at the party, which means there were many witnesses to the early-morning tragedy.

He also said a 21-year-old man, who is known to police, was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound after the incident -- but he isn't cooperating with the investigation.

After Giroux spoke, the young victim's sisters Amanda Taylor and Camisha Brown took the podium and pleaded for witnesses to come forward.

"We all know somebody out there knows something ... just have the courage to come out and do what is right -- enough is enough," one of the two siblings, teary-eyed and huddled, said.

"It could just as easily have happened to any one of your family members."

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair was also on-hand, and assured the community police are pulling out all stops to find suspects.

"We cannot restore the life, but can do everything we can to prosecute individuals responsible for the shooting and change circumstances that give rise to this violence," Blair said.

"I'm confident we'll be able to identify and prosecute the individuals responsible."

A community mourns

The young boy's aunt, who apparently heard the gunshots outside her townhouse, was losing her voice as she struggled to understand why the boy died.

"It's my nephew, why my nephew?" Sharon Osborn rasped, staring into the distance.

She also said her nephew was an innocent bystander at the party, apparently thrown for a 6-year-old and an 18-year-old, which ended with his death.

"He didn't deserve that, and I don't think nobody deserves to be shot -- nobody," Osborn said in a high-pitched voice.

"We are human beings -- we have to start treating each other with respect."

Members attending a church across the road from the townhouse complex where the tragedy occurred stood in line holding hands, weeping, and praying silently after they heard about the young boy's death.

The congregation's pastor said the crime scene looked all too familiar.

"Every time you see the yellow police tape, (you think) oh, god, it can't be again," a bleary-eyed Bill Sundberg said.

He said the silent group, stretched across the sidewalk with arms linked and heads down, formed the line to convey their desire for change.

"It moves you -- something has to change, something has to be done. That's why we're here, to make a difference."

Mayor calls for gun crackdown after shooting

Mayor David Miller re-iterated the need to toughen up gun laws after the 11-year-old and two others were shot to death in unrelated incidents on Sunday in Toronto, bringing the city's wekeend homicide toll to four.

"It's very clear that gun violence is connected to the ownership of guns," Miller told the media.

"Handguns are still allowed to be owned in Canada, and they're stolen from owners and used in crimes."

Miller was also disturbed by the killing, saying the news hit close to home.

"I'm the father of an 11-year-old -- it's a tragedy," the mayor said. "I get very worried about these incidents."

Miller said the federal government has to change the rules for gun ownership for municipal initiatives to be effective.

"The fewer guns there are around, the fewer are used in crimes - it's jut that simple," Miller said.

"We (shouldn't) allow people to collect them anymore -- collections are for things like stamps, not things that, when they're stolen, are used to shoot people."

Two others fall victim to gun violence on Sunday

A man in his 20s was also shot and killed in an apartment building on Bleecker Street near Bloor Street and Parliament Street shortly before 2 a.m.

Police said they found the victim with four gunshot wounds to the head.

A third shooting in the city's entertainment district early Sunday morning killed one man and wounded another. Police say the two men, both believed to be in their 20s, were shot just before 1 a.m. outside Flirt Lounge.

One victim was taken to hospital but was later pronounced dead, while the other man was treated for gunshot wounds to the buttocks and leg.

Two double-shootings on Saturday claim one life

Kimel Foster was shot several times in the stomach outside the Town Talk Restaurant and Bar on Vaughan Road near Dufferin Street and Eglinton Avenue around 3 a.m. Saturday morning.

Emergency workers tried to treat the 21-year-old but he was pronounced dead. A second man, 31, also suffered from injuries related to the incident.

Police said two other men were shot in a seemingly unrelated incident near Bathurst Street and Wilson Avenue, just north of Highway 401.

The victims were both shot in the stomach just before 6 a.m. Saturday, and were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Police managed to nab a suspect after a TTC worker spotted a suspicious-looking man on the Bathurst Street bus shortly after the incident.

"(The) man was investigated ... and found to be in possession of a firearm and a knife -- he was taken into custody for this particular occurrence," McLane told the media.

With a report from CTV's Chris Eby