Police cars park at the scene of a shooting at Weston Collegiate Institute high school in Toronto on Feb. 16.Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press
A 15-year-old boy who was shot outside his Toronto high school ran into the building to be taken care of by teachers until an ambulance arrived to try to save him.
The Grade 10 victim of Toronto’s latest shooting was injured around lunchtime Thursday in the city’s west end.
“At approximately 12 noon this afternoon a student at Weston Collegiate Institute was shot in the parking lot,” Inspector Ryan Forde told reporters on the scene.
The Toronto Police officer said a gunman or gunmen arrived in a car to the school near Jane Street and Lawrence Avenue. The student victim was confronted when he went outside for the midday break.
“Apparently he was approached,” Insp. Forde said.
One bullet struck the boy in the upper chest, but he managed to get himself back inside to safety.
“The victim was subsequently transported to a local trauma centre where he is currently in critical care,” Insp. Forde said.
Police say they do not have any identifying information about the shooter or the vehicle. They are canvassing the neighbourhood for witnesses and video.
Ryan Bird, a spokesman for the Toronto District School Board, told reporters that the 15-year-old victim was in Grade 10.
“Some of our staff immediately jumped in and quite frankly were tending to the student,” Mr. Bird said. He said they “tried to keep him as comfortable as possible until paramedics could arrive.”
The Toronto board’s director of education, Colleen Russell-Rawlins, said there have been several serious incidents of youth violence in the city and that the school board is working with police, community groups and faith leaders to address root causes.
“We need to actually think about what is causing this,” she told reporters at the scene.
On Halloween, a school shooting at Woburn Collegiate Institute in Toronto’s east end left an 18-year-old dead and a 15-year-old boy injured. A 17-year-old boy now stands charged with second degree murder.
One year ago, a 14-year-old boy was charged with the premeditated murder of an 18-year-old who was gunned down at the end of his school day at David and Mary Thomson Collegiate in east Toronto.
In the aftermath of that tragedy, Toronto Police held a news conference announcing that the average age of a gunman in the city is rapidly dropping.
“There is no rational explanation for why a 13, 14, or 15 year old child should have access to illegal firearms – let alone feel compelled to use them,” then-deputy chief Myron Demkiw said during that news conference.
Now Toronto Police Chief, he said that 25 used to be the average age of a gunman in Toronto. But “in 2021 we saw that average drop to 20 years of age.”