Toronto police have identified the man killed in a shooting near Yonge-Dundas Square late Wednesday night as 18-year-old Israel Edwards of Pickering.

Heavily armed officers and a police dog patrol the scene of a shooting at Yonge-Dundas Square early Thursday. (Tony Smyth/CBC) Police and paramedics were called to the area shortly after 11 p.m. for reports of gunshots, according to Toronto police homicide Det. Stephen Henkel.

They found Edwards suffering from several gunshot wounds, and he was taken to a local trauma centre where he died of his injuries, Henkel told CBC video producer Tony Smyth.

Officers were at the scene interviewing witnesses and looking for security camera footage from nearby businesses.

"Obviously, in the heart of Yonge-Dundas Square, there's a lot of video," Henkel said.

'Sounded like a cherry bomb'

Sil, who did not want his last name used, was sitting having a cigarette nearby when he heard shots ring out behind him.

"I didn't know they were shots at first, it just sounded like a cherry bomb, firecrackers. I could smell," he said.

Police cordoned off the scene after a fatal shooting at Yonge-Dundas Square. (Tony Smyth/CBC) "I turned around, there was a young man on the ground. These people went to assist him. They turned him over. It was blood, and then I realized it was a shooting."

He saw "some youths" run past him, but didn't see what happened before police began arriving at the scene.

Construction worker Jeff Pratt, who was near the scene when the shooting happened and back there for work Thursday morning, said he thought the sound was just another construction crew.

"There's always stuff going on down here," he told CBC Toronto's Linda Ward.

"I honestly didn't know what it was and it didn't occur to me that someone would shoot somebody right here."

'I am troubled,' mayor says

The shooting is the second fatal incident on downtown streets this week. Late Monday, police say 37-year-old Matthew Staikos was gunned down at the intersection of Bay Street and Yorkville Avenue. He was shot from behind by a male suspect who investigators said fled in a Mercedes.

Mayor John Tory called the incidents of gun violence "shocking" and said they "can in no way be accepted or brushed aside."

In a statement, Tory said he spoke with police Chief Mark Saunders, who assured him that investigators "are doing everything possible to bring the perpetrators of these despicable crimes to justice.

"Police are also deploying additional resources where they believe they will be most effective. I will be following up with [Saunders] and relevant city officials in the days to come to ensure that we are doing everything possible to reduce the number of these incidents and assist with law enforcement."

Meanwhile, Henkel asked that anyone who was in the area at the time of the shooting call the homicide squad at 416-808-7400 or 52 Division at 416-808-5200.