The barrage of more than a dozen gunshots shocked a co-op housing community in Richmond Hill early Wednesday morning in an apparently targeted triple shooting.

Residents on the Centre St. crescent near Yonge St. and Major MacKenzie Dr. awoke to sirens, police dogs and yellow crime scene tape after a man and woman were shot dead and another man critically injured.

Several people who live adjacent to a parking lot where the trio was found inside a parked car said they heard a quick succession of shots around midnight.

A resident who identified herself as Vivian D. said she and her daughter heard 15 to 20 shots around midnight.

“I was scared. I thought it was either fireworks or gunshots,” she said. “And sure enough, soon after I heard the sirens.”

Based on eyewitness information, York Regional Police are now looking for two male suspects who are believed to have fled on foot from the Centre Green complex.

The names of the victims will likely be released on Thursday, police said.

The woman was declared dead and the two men rushed to hospital, said Const. Andy Pattenden. One died after arrival and the other is still in critical condition.

Based on witness information, Pattenden said investigators are looking for two male suspects believed to have fled on foot.

“It does not appear to be a random act,” he said.

A police forensic team was at the scene — a mostly industrial block filled by auto shops — Wednesday morning. Yellow police tape sealed off the west parking lot as investigators collected evidence. After 10 a.m., police loaded a white car onto a tractor-trailer to be towed away.

Management for the Centre Green co-op said they have “no information” about whether the victims were residents of the complex.

Another resident, who asked not to be named, said she has lived at the co-op for nearly six years and never lets her two children play outside.

“Normally it’s quiet, but over the last two weeks I’ve seen quite a bit of strange cars driving around very slowly with lights off,” the woman said. “It’s something very unsettling.”

Over the Christmas break, she was out on her porch for a cigarette late one night. She watched a car pull into the parking lot and the driver flash its high beams before two men came out to look at the car.

“They were just checking out the car,” she said. “Which seemed very strange at three in the morning.”

She said building management has told her the area is police patrolled due to “incidents” in the area. Around this time last year, someone was stabbed in the neighbourhood, she said. Shortly after moving in, she called the police when an unknown person rang her doorbell holding a gun.

Richmond Hill Ward 2 Councillor Carmine Perrelli said he is holding a community meeting at Elgin Barrow Arena on Jan. 22 from 7 to 9 p.m. so residents can be briefed on the shooting and share information.

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Perrelli said he’ll be inviting York’s chief of police.

“Richmond Hill is one of the safest places in the country,” he said. “And when we have Toronto-type crime in little Richmond Hill, it’s a concern.”

According to crime statistics recorded by York police, there have been few reported incidents in the immediate vicinity of the shooting since this summer.

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