An 18-year-old man was shot and killed in Hamilton's North End on Wednesday night.

Police and paramedics were called to an area near MacNab Street North and Simcoe Street West around 8:30 p.m. after gunshots rang out, but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police are still searching for suspects after 18-year-old Shariek Douse was shot and killed in the North End Wednesday. (Facebook)

Officers cordoned off an area outside a housing complex and covered the body with a sheet. Multiple friends and family members have identified the victim as 18-year-old Shariek Douse.

"We did respond, and we did locate a male who appears to have died from gunshot wounds," Insp. Glenn Bullock told reporters at the scene.

Many local residents and those who knew the victim voiced their anger that Douse's body was being left on the street as police investigated. Some, overcome with emotion, had to be held back by police officers. One man was seen being pulled to the ground by police while he yelled "get off me," repeatedly as other people swarmed around him.

Still other residents criticized police for not doing enough to stem the tide of violence near their homes. One woman shouted at Bullock as he did an interview with reporters. "[The body] has been sitting there for three hours," she said.

"Someone has died as a result of this shooting, and that's our focus right now," Bullock said. "Police patrol all the areas all the time, and it's in cooperation with the community that we can best solve these crimes."

"Especially tonight when we have the death of a person, we need the cooperation and communication from the whole community to help us solve this crime."

Extra officers were called in to help with crowd control. Bullock couldn't say if the shooting was targeted or gang related. "It's way too early in the investigation to make that determination," he said.

'Put the guns down'

Just outside the scene Wednesday night, one of Douse's cousins told reporters that he was "a good person who didn't deserve this."

"Growing up he wasn't like this," she said, declining to give her name over fears for her safety. "He was in the choir, he was a good kid. He didn't choose this."

Douse's other cousin Jakayla Douse posted about the shooting on Instagram early Thursday morning, overcome with grief. "How is my family being buried?" she asked. "What ... is this world coming to?"

"Put the guns down."

Multiple friends and family members say this isn't the first time Douse had been shot, telling CBC News that he was also shot in the same part of the city last November, but wasn't critically injured. Police have not responded to requests for comment about a link to that incident.

Douse's friend Rushan Piroev told CBC News that his dead friend "put family and friends above all."

"That's what makes this loss so devastating," he said. "[He was] a kid that was a product of his environment but always had bigger dreams and aspirations."

Lorraine Lewis, 15, said Douse was a "great kid" who fell in with the wrong people. "We used to play basketball together all the time," she said. "If he kept playing basketball then he would still be alive right now cause he wouldn't have gotten mixed up."

Lewis was also friends with Jesse Clarke, a 14-year-old who was stabbed and killed in Hamilton in August of last year. She said guns weren't an issue among people in her age range — but that's changing.

"It's getting out of hand," Lewis said. "Next it could be one of my family members."

Shooting spike in Hamilton

Hamilton Police Chief Glenn De Caire also attended the scene Wednesday night. He spoke on CHML with Bill Kelly Thursday morning, and said that people "need to come forward and help police" with the investigation. Police say nobody is in custody at this time.

"We need to stand up as a community," De Caire said. "We need to find the intestinal fortitude – the backbone – to stand up and say enough is enough."

Though police have been facing community criticism for the situation, De Caire said this is "not the time" for that sort of critique.

Police were still on scene where Shariek Douse was killed Thursday morning. (Tucker Wilson/CBC)

"We have the support of the community at large," De Caire said. "Anybody that is being a critic is just trying to push responsibility somewhere else."

The shooting marks the latest in a string of gun incidents in Hamilton, which includes a triple shooting on MacNab in June.

Police are investigating multiple incidences of daytime gunfire in the lower city, but have not said if they are connected. De Caire told Bill Kelly that incidents of gun violence have been "relatively stable" in recent years, and are down significantly from a spike several years ago.

Police are concerned, he said, about guns coming in over the border from the U.S. or legal firearms in the city that aren't stored properly and are then stolen during break-ins.

"Once those guns hit the streets they often become crime guns," he said.

Police investigators were still on scene where Douse was shot Thursday morning.

Four people - two adults and two teens - were arrested just after noon on Thursday after warrants led to the seizure of a semi-automatic gun, ammunition, drugs and money.

Still, Const. Steve Welton did not confirm whether these arrests were linked to the shooting.

"(It's) too early in the investigation to make any links," he said. "The investigation is still ongoing."

adam.carter@cbc.ca