TORONTO — Two people are dead and three others are in hospital following an overnight shooting that began inside a packed Toronto nightclub that was hosting the official after-party of rapper Drake's annual OVO Fest.
Deputy Chief Peter Sloly said officers responded to a call about shots being fired at the Muzik nightclub at about 3:15 a.m. Tuesday.
He said the club, where another shooting took place on the same night last year, already had a heavy police presence due to the size of the crowd.
One officer was within metres of a woman who was shot and "was able to, in her last breaths, provide CPR and do all he could to keep her alive," Sloly said at a news conference. The woman was later pronounced dead in hospital.
A man was shot dead inside the club where hundreds were partying, he said.
"This was a brazen, large-scale ongoing firearm incident and our officers and members of the public were directly in the line of fire," Sloly said.
"We were very lucky that this was not a larger body count, quite frankly."
Sloly said two other shooting victims have serious, but non-life-threatening injuries while a third has a less serious gunshot wound.
Police asked for the public's help with their investigation. Sloly said they don't know how many shots were fired or how many suspects they are looking for, but added that there may have been other victims.
"It is a very complex scene and a large, complicated area," he said.
The nightclub was hosting the official OVO Fest after-party featuring Toronto rapper Drake. It is not known whether he was at the nightclub at the time of the shooting.
Supt. Frank Bergen said the victims were in their 20s and 30s.
He said the organizers of the "well-run event" were doing their best and the incident happened as they were shutting down for the evening.
Sloly said it was unclear how the gun got into the club with such tight security and so many police officers outside. He said the area is large, which also has a pool that is part of the club that is surrounded by fence, but "is not airtight."
A similar incident occurred in front of Muzik after OVO Fest last summer when a 28-year-old man suffered serious injuries after being shot.
The deputy chief said there has been a spike in shooting incidents in Toronto this year that hasn't been since 2012. Sloly said a new mobile app released by police Tuesday will be useful for investigations like this.
"That application could actually be used in this case and the other firearms cases we are investigating over the course of this year," said Sloly.
The app allows users to report crimes through their smart phone and connect with officers. Push notifications advising users of community safety alerts will allow police to warn the public of incidents like the latest shooting.
