By Don McHoull
A man was gunned down outside the Tim Hortons on Victoria Street, and another was wounded by gunfire, last night.
According to an eyewitness, who was standing outside the Tim Hortons during the incident, the victim was shot three times in the chest by a man sitting in the driver’s seat of a car facing north on Victoria Street. The witness said it sounded like a fully automatic weapon was used.
“It sounded like cherry bombs going off,” he said.
Just before 9 p.m. last night, the victim was arguing with a young man in a dark-coloured four-door automobile, when the driver opened fire, the witness said.
“The [shooter] was yelling ‘Let me handle this, Let me handle this,’” said the witness. “He then pulled out an automatic weapon and shot the guy. It happened really quickly.”
After the 29-year-old victim was shot he staggered across the street, where he collapsed in front of the Second Cup coffee shop.
An ambulance rushed the first victim to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A second man who was shot multiple times, stumbled down the street to St. Michael’s Hospital where he checked himself in.
A man on scene said the victim was known on the street as Rukkus.
The man, who said he was a friend of the victim, said Rukkus liked to play chess at the tables next to Sam The Record Man, on Gould Street in the summer.
Rukkus was not from the area, the man said, and didn’t spend much time around campus in the winter.
“For [the shooters] to know he was down here they must have tailed him,” the man said.
Victoria Street, from just south of Gould Street to Dundas Street, was shut down for most of the night, as police investigated the killing.
“We’ve called in units from all over the Toronto area to patrol the downtown area,” said Det. Jim Dillabough.
Heavily armed Emergency Task Force responded to the crime scene, but police believe the shooter fled immediately after the shooting.
Dillabough said that police believe additional suspects may have fled the scene by escaping into Dundas subway station.
Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino was briefly on scene, before leaving in a black luxury sedan.
Ryerson student Julia Spiegelberg was in class in the business building when the shooting occurred.
“It disrupted the class,” she said. “Everyone heard it.”
Police believe the shooter may have been caught on Ryerson security cameras.
Ryerson security could not comment as of press time
With files from Matthew Kwong and Melissa Godsoe
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