A midnight “gun battle” on a residential street has left one young man dead, stunned a quiet North York community and matched a tragic record in Toronto’s history.

The eruption of gunfire early Wednesday killed Yohannes Brhanu, of Toronto, and brought the city’s homicide count to 89 in 2018, the highest on record since since 1991 — with six weeks remaining in the year.

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Brhanu, 22, was found unresponsive in the driver’s seat of a vehicle shortly after midnight, following what police called an “alarming” concentration of firepower involving at least four guns and as many as 20 bullets fired. He died in hospital.

Brhanu’s death is hitting his family and community hard. Brhanu was among the young men known as the “Neptune Four,” a high-profile case from 2011 that began with two Toronto officers stopping four Black teens on their way to an after-school program, and ended with one cop drawing his firearm and throwing a punch.

Seven years later, the violent confrontation is still being heard at Toronto police tribunal. The two officers, from the now-disbanded Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS) unit, are facing professional misconduct charges under the Police Service Act, one for using “unreasonable” force.

The years-long hearing — where Brhanu testified last year — is at last wrapping up, with final arguments scheduled for next week.

“I think he had a lot to contribute to life,” Roderick Brereton, a community advocate and youth worker who knew Brhanu, said Wednesday. “It’s a total shock right now.”

Det-Sgt. Mike Carbone told reporters Wednesday that it appeared Brhanu was shot as his car was briefly parked on Ann Arbour Rd. near Lovilla Blvd., in the area of Weston Rd. and Hwy. 401, with another individual in the front passenger seat. Another vehicle “with some association to the deceased” approached from the opposite direction, Carbone said, then a third unknown vehicle stopped at the driver’s side of Brhanu’s car and its occupant or occupants started shooting at him.

Individuals “associated with the deceased” returned fire then fled the scene, Carbone said, adding one person was subsequently arrested but has been released without charges.

Between 10 and 20 bullets were fired, he said.

“Essentially it was a gun battle between the offenders who murdered the deceased and the people who were associated with the deceased,” he said.

Based on the evidence at this point, Carbone said Brhanu appeared to be the target of the shooting, adding he was found with a loaded firearm that was not one of the guns used in the shooting.

“Normally we wouldn’t talk about the victim being armed as well, but in this case we both feel it was extremely relevant given the amount of firepower out there on that quiet residential street. It is alarming to us,” said Acting Insp. Hank Idsinga, who heads the Toronto police homicide squad.

Carbone said he would not speculate on the motive for the shooting, including whether it was gang-related.

“It was a late night drive-by kind of thing,” said a neighbourhood resident who witnessed the shooting and did not want to be named out of concern for his safety. He did not hear any altercation or voices preceding the shooting. Individuals in one car drove by and started shooting into a parked car, then people from another car “jumped out and started shooting at the guys shooting at the car” as the initial shooters took off, he said.

Bullets were found zig-zagged along front lawns and the road, he said.

“It was absolutely terrifying. There are kids...it’s a kids’ street,” he said. “The only reason you come here is if you live here.”

Several residents described being shaken and unsettled by the shooting, others offered a bleak summary of gun violence in the city: “it was bound to happen.”

Fabio Ovettini said there have been previous break-ins into cars and homes in the area which has concerned area residents, but the shooting is extremely alarming. “When you have so many bullets flying around and kids sleeping in their beds, they could have had a bullet in their head easily.”

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The total of 89 homicides so far this year in Toronto matches a record set in 1991.

This year has also seen the highest per capita rate of killings since 1991, which saw 3.8 homicides per 100,000.

In 2018, the city has so far maintained a homicide rate of 3.6 per 100,000.

That rate is ahead of any other year this millennium. It was 2.2 per 100,000 last year and in 2005 and 2007, two other years that saw notable spikes in violence, it was 3.0 and 3.2, respectively.

Idsinga attributed the record-high in 1991 to Asian organized crime activity, but said there is no central reason that has been identified this year to explain the homicide numbers. “Gang violence is definitely a contributing factor” but not the only factor, he said.

The 2018 homicide total comes amid a surge in gunfire, some of it unleashed in crowded public spaces.

In June, two men were gunned down on Queen St. near Peter St. during the early evening of a busy Canada Day long weekend.

The following month, an 18-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl were killed when gunman Faisal Hussain opened fire along Danforth Ave., before turning the gun on himself.

The Yonge St. van attack in April partially accounts for the surge in homicide victims: 10 people died when accused killer Alek Minassian allegedly commandeered a van, deliberately striking more than two dozen pedestrians.

But even without the mass casualty, the city’s year-to-date homicide total would be 79, still significantly higher than comparable tallies in recent years: by this date, there had been 54 homicides in 2017, 63 homicides in 2016 and just 47 in 2015.

The violence has sparked a citywide debate on gun violence and gun control.

“Every single homicide in our city is tragic — it leaves families and friends of the victim in a state of shock and grief, neighbourhoods shaken, and residents concerned,” Mayor John Tory said in a statement. He noted his push to have other levels of governments fund policing and community safety measures approved by council this summer as well as his desire for stricter gun and bail rules.

City council earlier this year called on the federal government to ban the sale of handguns in Toronto.

Councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 12 Toronto-St. Paul’s), who in 2014 pushed for the city to adopt a youth equity strategy designed to address the roots of youth violence, noted it remains severely underfunded.

“There isn’t one simple answer to why we’ve seen this increase in homicides, but certainly what we do know is that the city is not supporting its own recommendations to improve the lives of our most vulnerable youth in their communities,” he said. “We need more action to support our city’s most vulnerable kids before a crime is committed rather than only reacting afterwards.”

On Wednesday morning, Councillor Michael Thompson (Ward 21, Scarborough Centre) was speaking to a group of Grade 5 students about gun violence at Glen Ravine Junior Public School.

“They understand it to be serious and they’re 10-year-old kids,” he said.

With files from Jim Rankin and Jennifer Pagliaro