Blood stains were still scattered across an apartment hallway Thursday morning, hours after a brazen shooting that sent five teenagers to hospital and left community members calling for help with increasing gun violence.

Police tape still hung outside the building, one of a cluster of low-rises on Clearview Heights Road in the Black Creek-Weston Road area, while numerous bullet holes pierced windows and inside walls.

The five teens all needed medical attention after the attack: an 18-year-old boy, 17-year-old girl, 16-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy were taken for treatment, while another 16-year-old boy went to to hospital on his own, according to police.

Police said about 20 shell casings from the guns were found at the scene, a result of three suspects — teens or men in their early 20s clad in black clothing with hoodies — entering the building through the side door at about 7 p.m. on Wednesday and opening fire on a group of young people who were standing in the hallway. No guns were recovered.

The shocking attack was one of three shootings that rocked the area over 48 hours.

“My biggest concern right now is that there are three people right now that have no issues shooting firearms in the city of Toronto,” Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said at the scene Wednesday, noting the number of shootings this year is unprecedented. “We’re actively doing our part and making the apprehensions.”

On Thursday, Saunders announced an extension to Project Community Space, a $4.5 million anti-gun violence initiative launched in the summer to address street-gang activity. The project, which was supposed to end this week, will be prolonged until further notice.

“We are experiencing the highest number of shootings recorded to date in Toronto — a total of 237 this year — where someone has been injured or killed. We will keep the extended resources in place at this time,” Saunders said in a statement.

Some in the area are looking for further action.

Coun. Frances Nunziata (Ward 5, York South—Weston in which all three shootings took place) said “the status quo cannot continue.”

“Over the past three days, we have had three shooting incidents in the community leaving eight people suffering from gunshot wounds,” Nunziata said in a statement Thursday.

“I have been mobilizing additional resources to support youth in the community and to provide them with greater opportunities for success but the City must do more to curb the violence in our communities.”

Area MPP Faisal Hassan, who raised the issue of gun violence in the legislature Thursday, called on the provincial government to invest in initiatives that help keep people out of gangs, and to examine the ban on handgun sales.

“The people in our community, especially the youth, have been neglected for too long, and we can’t afford to wait any longer for proactive measures to address the violence — this is a matter of life and death,” he said in a statement.

The Clearview Heights shooting left local residents rattled.

“It’s very unfortunate because they are just very young,” said Katabi Kidd, a resident in the same building for nearly a year who said she was not home when the shooting happened.

“Kids just want to be kids, play around, go to the gym or store to get candies and come back safe. Now everybody is kind of watching out.”

She described the neighbourhood as “family friendly,” with people meeting up for barbecues in the summer and hanging outside when the weather is good.

As a parent of an 18-year-old son, Kidd said a shooting like this should change how the community approaches safety issues. Rules should be tightened about gun ownership everywhere, and if it were up to her, even the law enforcement officers should have to leave the guns behind and only use Tasers.

“Guns should just go. I think kids see that everywhere and want to be in on the action,” she said.

“It’s very scary.”

Tim Mugali, 45, a longtime resident of a nearby building, said his heart “jumped” when he heard gunshots and he could barely sleep all night long.

“I don’t understand how these kids are getting their hands on guns,” he said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Gun violence has hit the part of the city hard this week. Around 9:30 a.m. Thursday, a 29-year-old man was shot in a parking lot near Jane Street and Harding Avenue, north of Trethewey Drive, about a five-minute drive from where the teens were shot. Police reported that several shots were heard and say people in the area saw three men wearing dark clothes fleeing east afterward.

And earlier Wednesday morning, two gunmen fired into a Weston home, critically injuring a woman while a senior was also shot in the leg. Multiple bullet holes went through the window and door of the multi-unit house near Weston Road and Church Street.

“I know we’re supposed to feel safe in Canada, but as a single mom I don’t feel safe living here right now,” said Nicole Alexander, a resident of the home as she pointed to bullet holes that went through the door and hit the inside wall just above her 9-year-old daughter’s bicycle. “If she had been here picking up her bike or something, I don’t even want to think about what could have happened.”