Gunfire reported at Vaughan Road Academy
[attach]1492[/attach]Vaughan Road Academy was under lockdown today after the sound of gunshots were reported to police.
Two officers responded to what they believed to be semiautomatic gunfire during a routine traffic stop on Vaughan Road.
The incident took place around 1:30 p.m., across the street from Vaughan Road Academy Public School and a nearby daycare.
Once onscene, police say they saw a group of young men scattering.
The surrounding area was cordoned off and the Emergency Task Force and Police Dog Services were called in to scour the area for clues. Two shell casings were subsequently found on Atlas Road, one block east of the school.
Sergeant Travers Wynne said the school was put under lockdown for two hours to ensure the safety of the students and to make sure that the suspects could not enter school grounds.
“At the time we arrived, we didn’t know whether or not if there had been a suspect coming from or going into the school,” he said.
Although Wynne said there hasn’t been shootings in the area one Oakwood resident at the scene said the area has been plagued with gun violence for the past couple of years.
“My wife and I were coming from the grocery store one day and we saw a police officer patting down some kid who didn’t look older than 16,” said the resident, who didn’t want to be named. “We stood there and watched as they pulled from his baggy jogging pants what looked like a Mac-10 with an extended clip.”
Three of males that were on scene at the time of the shooting are being held under investigative detention while investigators determine if they played a role in the incident.
Toronto police are asking the public for any information.