Woman dead in daytime shooting in Toronto's east end, police say

• This story has been updated to include an image of the shooting suspects
• You can find the latest on the investigation here

A woman is dead following a daytime shooting in a busy neighbourhood in Toronto's east end, police say.

It happened just before 12:30 p.m. on Friday in the Leslieville area near Queen Street and Carlaw Avenue.

That's where Toronto police say three individuals were involved in an altercation, in which shots were fired. The woman struck was not part of the altercation, according to Duty Insp. Michelle Olszevski. 

The victim — a woman in her 40s — was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries, where she later died, Olszevski said.

It's unclear how many shooters there were, and whether they had any connection to the victim, police say.

Police are now searching for three suspects. The first suspect is described as six feet tall, with a medium build, wearing a white shirt with blood on it. Police say the second suspect was seen wearing a dark T-shirt with a floral print and blue jeans. Police have not released any information on the third suspect. 

All three were last seen fleeing Carlaw Avenue on foot, heading toward Pape Avenue.

'Really upsetting,' says witness

Toronto police's homicide unit has taken over the investigation with the help of the guns and gangs unit.

Olszevski says investigators are reviewing video footage and have spoken to multiple witnesses, but are appealing to any others who haven't yet come forward to do so. 

"We are making an appeal to the public," Olszevski said. "As you know this was a Friday afternoon on Queen Street East — very busy neighborhood [with] commuters, pedestrians, street cars and vehicles." 

Several Toronto residents who witnessed the shooting described a chaotic and confusing scene. 

"I don't know exactly what happened," said Noah Benn. "I saw a man pull out a handgun and shoot a woman in a pink dress." 

"I ran over here and hit the ground," he said.

Daniella Zaia, who was at a nearby business when the victim was shot, said the incident was "really upsetting."   

"We saw a woman collapse and we didn't really know what was going on — we didn't know if she got hit by a car," she said. "We also heard gunshots." 

Zaia said bystanders ran to the victim's aid before emergency crews arrived to help, adding something like this is very unusual for the area.

"Generally everyone is really kind and sweet and it's a really nice neighborhood to be part of. So this is just out of the norm," she said.  

Michelle Stapleton, who was also in the area at the time, agrees.

"It's just such a sad, sad situation. It's never happened around here before," she said. "I feel not safe anymore coming outside." 

Roads in the area are closed as police investigate.