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Man Shot Inside TTC Subway Station
Thursday January 22, 2009
CityNews.ca Staff
A man has been shot inside the Osgoode Subway Station. The incident took place just after 11am, and the victim, believed to be 19, was found unconscious on the platform, bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound to the stomach.
He was rushed to St. Michael's Hospital where his condition has been upgraded from critical to serious. His injuries are not considered life threatening.
Witnesses report hearing between 3-7 shots, but miraculously no one else was hit despite the area being heavily populated with morning commuters. A subway rider assisted the wounded man until paramedics arrived, while others scrambled for the doors in a panic.
"I heard three gunshots and everyone just ran up the stairs," one witness explained. "I didn't see anything, we just ran."
Police were apparently searching for one male suspect described as black, wearing a Blue Jays hat. A man police will only call a 'person of interest' was arrested not far at Queen and Spadina. "We got information from witnesses on scene, he was pointed out and arrested by officers a couple blocks away from the scene," notes Sgt. Don Hutchinson.
No weapon has been recovered and it hasn't been confirmed if he was the suspected shooter.
"We have a male in custody," confirmed Supt. Hugh Ferguson. "Detectives will be talking to him, obviously we will be interviewing witnesses to determine what if any role this person played in the incident that took place down in the tunnel."
The gunfire was reportedly sparked by a confrontation involving a group of young males.
"The information we've been able to gather so far indicates that the train pulled into the station, there was a group of young males on the train, they came off the train, engaged in some sort of a dispute, the nature of which we're not sure at this time, and during the course of that dispute the shots rang out," Ferguson explains.
The ETF were also called to the scene, and are searching the tracks as a precaution to make sure no other suspects are hiding in the underground tunnels.
"We can't rule out that they may have gone back into the tunnels, thus the search of the tunnels," adds Ferguson.
"The officers are down searching the tunnels...to insure that when the subway system returns to normal the public can travel through safely without any concerns of persons being down in the tunnel and they are also down there looking for evidence that may have been discarded."
The area is cordoned off, and the Yonge-University-Spadina Subway line is currently shut down from St. George to Union. Shuttle buses are in service.
CityNews has exclusive video captured just moments after the shooting took place, it will air on CityNews at 5 and 6.