A 21-year-old man who was shot and killed early Tuesday morning in an East York apartment building stairwell, has been identified by Toronto police as Warren Pearson.

Police say Pearson arrived at the building around 12:45 a.m, and met with someone there before he was shot. He lived in Toronto, according to police, but it’s not clear whether he was a resident of the apartment tower.

When police were called to the building at 75 Eastdale Avenue, near Dawes Road and Danforth Avenue, for complaints of “unknown trouble” just before 5 a.m., they found Pearson’s body and a shell casing lying nearby, homicide Det. Steve Henkel told reporters outside.

A forensic identification van was parked in front of the 15-storey apartment tower, as two police officers guarded an entrance blocked off by yellow tape, Tuesday.

Inside the lobby, another police officer was keeping watch on one of three elevators, which was out of service and also blocked off with police tape.

McKenzie Belyea said she heard three clear shots at about 1 a.m.

Not knowing what to do, she turned off the lights in her fourth-floor apartment and didn’t learn until Tuesday morning what had happened.

“I was just sitting there in shock,” the 20-year-old said. “I never heard gun shots in my life.”

Her mom Kim Belyea said she’s now warning her 10-year-old against taking the stairs.

“To hear this is scary, you don’t think it would happen so close to home,” she said.

Patricia Bradshaw, who has lived in townhouses nearby for more than 40 years, said she’s left feeling “sick.”

“They’ve got to do something about these guns,” she said.

It’s not the first time the neighbourhood has seen violence, Bradshaw said.

The nephew of her neighbour, she said, was murdered in the stairwell of the building across the street, 90 Eastdale Avenue, eight years ago.

The apartments are part of a cluster of older towers and townhouses in the residential area of East York.

The entrance blocked off with police tape is how people get to a convenience store attached to the building, said Janine Smith, who lives in an apartment building directly across the street.

Smith, waiting for the bus with several residents wondering what had happened, said it’s scary to have a shooting so close to home.

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“It’s crazy you think you’d hear it,” she said.

Police are investigating and canvassing the area for witnesses and surveillance video. Anyone with information is asked to contact 416-808-5500 or Crime Stoppers.

It’s the city’s 62nd homicide of the year.