

Codi Wilson, CP24.com





One man is dead following a shooting in the hallway of an apartment building in Scarborough Village this morning.

It happened at a building in the area of Eglinton Avenue and Mason Road, near Markham Road, at around 10:30 a.m.

Speaking to reporters at the scene, Det. Hank Idsinga said a 21-year-old man was shot multiple times in the hallway of the third floor of the building.

After the gunfire, Idsinga said the suspect fled down the north stairwell and out into a parking lot.

Paramedics responded to the scene, but the victim was pronounced dead a short time later. He has since been identified as Malique Ellis, 21, of Toronto.

Police have not yet determined a motive for the attack but say they believe the shooting was targeted.

The victim lived in a unit on the third floor, police say.

“I don’t even know if he (the suspect) knocked on the door yet or whether they encountered each other in the hallway,” Idsinga said.

The suspect gained access to the building by following another resident inside and Idsinga said the suspect was in the building for a total of about eight minutes.

“Our victim is an occupant of the building and he did have a female that he was living with. She’s being interviewed right now,” he said.

The detective noted that there were a number of other people inside the apartment at the time of the shooting.

“We are trying to determine the relationship,” he added.

Idsinga said police are reviewing video surveillance footage from the area and “numerous” witnesses are currently being interviewed.

He called the number of shots that were fired “very concerning.”

“At least a dozen shots (were) fired,” Idsinga said. “As you can imagine, in a residential hallway of an apartment building, I’m glad no one else was struck by any of these stray rounds.”

Jeanette Barnido, who lives on the floor where the gunshots rang out, said she was eating breakfast when she heard people talking in the hallway.

“A few seconds after I heard like five, six gunshots and I was very scared,” she said. “At that time, a friend of mine was with me and then we called 911.”

She said when she left her unit, she saw a woman at the end of the hallway holding a man who was bleeding.

Officers arrived a short time later, Barnido said.

Another tenant in the building said she heard the shots but didn’t realize what they were at first.

“It was loud,” Jennifer O’Toole said. “I’ve never heard gunshots like that before. I didn’t know they were gunshots until I came downstairs and saw the body.”

O’Toole said she noticed blood pouring from the victim’s head and it appeared that he had been shot multiple times.

“I saw the ambulance arrive,” she said. “They took out the gurney and then they put the gurney back in without a body.”