Police are appealing for witnesses after a man was seriously hurt in an overnight shooting on Highway 401 in Pickering, closing that section of the roadway for almost 12 hours.

The highway reopened just before 3 p.m. Friday after both the collector and express lanes were closed to allow police to “walk hundreds of metres” to collect evidence Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told reporters during the noon-hour.

Police received reports at approximately 3:45 a.m. of a shooting in the collector lanes near Whites Road.

Officers found three victims — two men and a woman. One of the men was suffering from serious injuries while the two other were treated and released from hospital.

Schmidt said police cannot confirm if the shooting happened where the vehicle had stopped, or if it was in motion during the attack. They also do not know if this was a targeted shooting. He said he couldn’t comment when asked whether the dispute began at a nearby bar.

“Every shooting we deal with is unique,” Schmidt said. “I cannot say if this is tied to any other activity.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or the Toronto OPP detachment at 416-235-4981.

With files from Raneem Alozzi