A 37-year-old Indian-Canadian was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the parking lot of a busy shopping centre in Toronto, marking the city’s third homicide of the year, police said.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Toronto Police Service identified the victim as Chandan Kumar Raja Nandakumar of Brampton.
Nandakumar, an IT professional originally from Karnataka, was attacked on Saturday afternoon at the Woodbine Shopping Centre.
Police said they received a call about a shooting at around 3:31 p.m. in the parking lot of the mall, located at the intersection of Rexdale Boulevard and Highway 27. When officers arrived at the scene, they found a man suffering from gunshot wounds.
The victim was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries. He later succumbed to his wounds, police said. According to investigators, the suspect or suspects fled the scene in a vehicle immediately after the shooting. No arrests have been made so far.
Images from the scene showed a white SUV with bullet holes in the windshield and a shattered driver’s side window, CTV News reported. The circumstances leading to the shooting remain unclear, but police believe the incident was “targeted”.
“I can understand how a shooting like this, especially at a mall, can cause concern for the safety of the public,” Insp. Errol Watson was quoted as saying by CBC News. “Officers will be canvassing for any witnesses, video and evidence.”
At this stage, police believe the shooting was targeted and not “random”, Watson said, adding that investigators are still working to determine how many suspects were involved and how many shots were fired.
