Police have identified the person whose body tumbled out of a moving vehicle onto the eastbound 401 collector lanes Tuesday, horrifying other motorists.
"The victim has been identified as Dayne Rose, 29, of Toronto," the Toronto Police Service said Wednesday in a news release.
Rose, who appeared to have gunshot wounds to the body, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sources have told CTV Toronto that the victim had a criminal record for a minor theft charge. Police do not believe he was involved in any gang activities.
The murder came just one day after another daylight shooting on Monday that left an 18-year-old dead outside a bus shelter on busy Eglinton Avenue near Keele Street.
Police say, so far, their investigation does not show a link between the murders.
At a news conference late Tuesday night, homicide detectives confirmed a man and a woman were questioned by police in connection with the highway shooting but they were both released without facing charges.
Police are trying to determine the chain of events that led to the incident.
Witnesses say they saw the man fall out of a champagne-coloured Lexus near the Keele Street exit. Many were able to provide a licence plate number for investigators.
Police are trying to determine whether Rose was pushed out or whether he jumped out in a bid to escape the gunman.
The suspect car was later discovered a short time after the shooting. It was abandoned and set on fire at the rear of 2 Armel Court north of the Albion-Weston Roads intersection.
Gun ban call repeated
Ontario politicians said Wednesday they are horrified by the spate of gun violence in Toronto over the last couple of days and are calling on the federal government to impose a handgun ban across the country.
Toronto Mayor David Miller has long been advocating for the gun ban and has even encouraged the city's residents to sign an online petition headed for Ottawa.
He told reporters Wednesday morning that the city has tried tackling the problem by putting more police officers on the street.
"What we saw yesterday and the day before were absolute tragedies," he said. "One shooting is too many. That's why we have put 400 new officers on the street and they are doing a very good job. People who commit violence in Toronto are going to go to jail and they need to know that."
Premier Dalton McGuinty said he's had enough of the violence and agreed with Miller by saying that no one should be able to possess a gun unless they are a police officer.
"Handguns are the weapon of choice for the criminal element," he said. "They are convenient, easy to hide and easy to use and there's an opportunity for us to do something about that. We don't have to keep going down the road that we've been pursuing."
McGuinty said that a handgun ban would help distinguish Canada from the so-called gun culture south of the border.
"I think we should aspire to be a handgun-free society," he said.
With reports from CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss, Dana Levenson and Chris Eby
