Two teens are dead following a shooting in Toronto’s west end on Friday.
The shooting happened at approximately 1:30 p.m. at a townhouse complex near a small park in the Jane Street and Grandravine Drive area, police said.
One of the teens, 16-year-old O’She Doyles-Whyte, was pronounced dead at the scene. The second victim, 15-year-old Kwame Duodu, was rushed to hospital where he later died of his injuries.
Officers first responded to calls about the shooting after witnesses say they heard up to five shots being fired.
"I heard a couple of shots which I thought were firecrackers so I didn’t really think anything of it. It’s when I heard the ambulance and when I heard a lady crying, that’s when I decided to look out my window and I saw a lot of people," Alicia Bartholomew, a resident in the neighbourhood, told CTV Toronto.
Const. Tony Vella told The Canadian Press that both teens were shot in the torso.
News of their deaths shocked residents in the community. Many of those who knew Doyles-Whyte said he will be missed.
"He was an amazing person. There was not a day that went by that he didn’t text me or call me to make sure I was okay. He was always looking out for everyone else," Genesis Shaw-Ottey, a friend of the victim, said.
"I felt so safe when I was around him. He was like my best friend."
According to friends of Doyles-Whyte, he lived in the area and worked as a camp counsellor at a nearby day camp.
Following the fatal shooting, the chair and president of the Toronto Community Housing released a joint statement.
"We are angered and saddened by the tragic loss of yet another young life to gun violence in this city," the statement says.
"Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the two young men shot today, and with the entire community of Yorkwoods Village."
The TCH said it is working with police as homicide detectives probe the shooting.
Police said they are looking for three individuals who were seen fleeing on bikes at the time of the shooting.
With a report from CTV Toronto’s John Musselman and CP24
