A 20-year-old man armed with a rifle was shot dead by Canadian police near a Toronto elementary school on Thursday afternoon. The incident caused the closure of five schools in the area and spread fear two days after a teenager killed 19 children and two teachers at a school in Texas, United States.
The Police revealed in a press conference that around 1:00 p.m. local time on Thursday, several people reported the presence of an individual armed with a rifle near a school in western Toronto.
Shortly after, an officer shot the individual, killing him. The police did not identify the deceased and only said that he was a young man of 20 years and that he was wearing a white cap and a jacket.
Toronto Police Chief James Ramer called the incident traumatic for students, teachers and parents, especially after the shootings in the US towns of Buffalo and Uvalde in recent days.
The presence of the armed individual forced several schools in western Toronto to implement emergency protocols and hold students inside the buildings until the Police made sure that there was no danger.
The authorities believe that the incident is an isolated case, but the Police will carry out patrols in the area to reassure the neighbors.
Canada's firearm homicide rate is 0.5 per 100,000 people, well below the US rate of 4.12, according to a 2021 analysis by the Institute for Fire Metrics and Evaluation. Health from the University of Washington.
