An east-end apartment building that residents say has a history of violence was the scene of a record-setting homicide Sunday afternoon.

Emergency services responded to reports of multiple gunshots at the West Hill Apartments at the busy intersection of Lawrence Ave. E. and Kingston Rd. at around 1:30 p.m., and located a man suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

The shooting is Toronto’s 90th homicide of 2018, breaking a record set in 1991.

A heavy police presence descended on the scene, including dozens of officers in more than 10 police cruisers.

At about 3 p.m. members of the Toronto Police Service Emergency Task Force drove up to the 13-storey building with sirens flashing. They entered the building with guns drawn but in no apparent hurry. Additional officers could be seen on the landings of several floors inside.

As police canvassed apartments looking for witnesses to the crime, residents congregated on the ground floor and at the entrance of the building. Some told reporters there has been violence at the highrise before, including a serious stabbing in August that almost killed a man.

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Some residents expressed frustration and fear about the conditions in the building, which is a Toronto Community Housing property.

“I’ve got to get out of here,” said Paulette Walcott, who said she has lived at the building for more than eight years and was using a walker to make her way up the sidewalk in front of the apartment.

“I’m not safe inside here,” she said, adding the situation was going “from bad to worse.”

Sam Perseud, 65, said he spent the weekend at his brother’s house, and was shaken when he returned to his apartment to see police outside the building. A neighbour told him someone had been shot.

“I said, ‘Oh God, I’ve got to get out of here now,” he said. In 14 years living at the building, he said there have been many robberies and assaults.

“Anything could happen to me,” he said.

While residents of the building were upset at the violence, life continued apparently unaffected at the busy strip malls across the street that house discount outlets, drug stores and fast food restaurants, some of which were still doing brisk business Sunday afternoon.

Toronto police Const. David Hopkinson confirmed the homicide unit has taken carriage of the investigation.

On Sunday night, Det. Paul Worden told media at the scene that the suspect or suspects were still at large. Police had been seen leading a man in handcuffs away from the building shortly after the murder, but Worden said he had been arrested on an unrelated matter.

The detective said the murder victim was a man about 30 years of age. He said police believe they know his identity but wouldn’t release it until they had notified his next of kin.

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He said the shooting took place in a stairwell in the building.

Worden said it wasn’t clear how many times the man had been shot but it was more than once. “It was consistent with the reports of numerous gunshots,” he said. He said he couldn’t say how many shooters there were or what the possible motive was.

He said the victim was “well known to the building, to people in the building.” He said that numerous people had come forward to police to offer information but he believed there were additional people who may know something valuable but had not yet shared it with investigators.

“I have the feeling there’s a lot of people in the building who may have information about this crime but as of now they’ve not felt comfortable coming forward,” he said. He asked anyone with information to contact police through the homicide division at 43 Division or the Crime Stoppers program.

According to Worden there is no surveillance footage from the part of the building where the shooting took place.

He said police were reviewing surveillance video, including footage from outside the building.

“We do have a direction of travel of some people that were seen leaving the building shortly after the murder and we would like to track their whereabouts,” he said.

In addition to shell casings, Worden said police discovered weapons at the scene of the crime. He wouldn’t say what kind of weapons, and said it wasn’t clear whether they were used in the murder.

A police tow truck removed a black Dodge minivan from the parking lot behind the building at about 6 p.m. Worden said the vehicle didn’t belong to the victim, “but we do believe some of the people who may have been with the deceased earlier in the day were in the vicinity of that vehicle earlier so we’ve taken it as a precaution just in case it can help us identify any of the parties.”

In a statement, Mayor John Tory said the city’s “homicide total is not something anyone, including me, can accept.”

He said residents have the right to expect governments to work together to reduce violent crime.

“I am absolutely determined to see us do better next year and every future year. I know with the public's help we can keep Toronto safe,” Tory said.

Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr