Police are searching for a suspect after officers were led on a violent high-speed chase through the streets of Mississauga on Wednesday morning.
Peel police said the motorist dumped one stolen vehicle and stole another during a chase that involved crashed cars, reports of gun shots and was eventually called off out of concern for public safety.
Officers said no one was injured during the chase, but could not confirm witness accounts that as many as four shots were fired during the pursuit.
Peel Regional Police Sgt. Zahir Shah said several cruisers were struck during the pursuit and two officers sustained minor injuries.
"These individuals, or individual, are obviously desperate and willing to resort to violent means to escape from the authorities," Shah told CTV Toronto.
The chase began around 7 a.m. when a resident reported a suspicious vehicle in the Mavis Road and Eglinton Avenue area.
Police arrived at the scene and learned the car, a blue 1996 Buick Regal, had been reported stolen from the Bristol Road West and McLaughlin Road area.
"Upon locating the vehicle we realized it was a stolen vehicle. We tried to pull it over, but it fled," said Shah, on what launched the chase.
Police pursued the vehicle through the streets of Mississauga, but called off the chase when the car reached speeds as high as 150 km/h.
At some point, the person dumped the Buick and stole a second car, a green Dodge Caravan. Peel police are now looking for a Caravan with the licence plate SASN 04 and a broken passenger side window.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Naomi Parness
