A man wielding a rifle near an elementary school in Toronto was shot and killed by police on Thursday.
Police officers responding to a report of an armed man walking down a Toronto neighborhood street shot the man after he confronted officers, Toronto’s police chief said. The incident led to the lockdown of five nearby schools, according to city officials. The shooting comes days after a gunman stormed an elementary school in Texas, killing 21 people.
“I certainly understand the trauma and how traumatic this must have been for staff, students and parents, given the recent events that have happened in the United States,” Toronto Police Chief James Ramer said, referring to Tuesday’s deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
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Toronto police have not released the identity of the man killed by police or any details on what his intentions may have been.
“I don’t want to speculate and suggest that it’s something similar to what’s happening in the United States,” Ramer said.
The Toronto Police Operations Twitter account described the armed man as someone in his late teens or early 20s.
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The shooting occurred near William G. Davis Junior Public School. All schools in the area of the incident lifted their lockdowns after a couple of hours, according to the Toronto District School Board.
On Tuesday, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, after shooting his grandmother. Inside the school, he shot and killed 19 children and two teachers before a Border Patrol tactical unit was able to enter the classroom he barricaded himself in and kill him.
Ramos was not confronted by officers before he entered the school through an unlocked door, according to officials. Parents outside the elementary school reportedly begged police officers to go into the school and stop the shooter for 40 minutes as they stood outside while Ramos holed up in one of the classrooms.
