Police shoot man dead as Scarborough schools enter lockdown over rifle reports

Toronto police shot and killed a man in Scarborough Thursday afternoon while responding to reports of a man walking with a rifle that forced four nearby schools into lockdown.

The calls about someone with a rifle near Maberley Crescent and Oxhorn Road came in around 1 pm, and police quickly responded to the scene.

The Ontario Special Investigations Unit said two Toronto police officers discharged their firearms at a man on East Avenue near Maberley Crescent at approximately 1:35 pm. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Toronto Police Service Chief James Ramer couldn’t say much about what happened because the incident is being investigated by the SIU, but confirmed an individual confronted officers.

“The individual is deceased. Officers are doing as well as can be expected. It’s a difficult day.”

Ramer did not say whether or not the individual shot dead was in possession of a rifle.

The school lockdowns were lifted a short time later.

At this point, there are no details about what the individual was doing.

“We have no understanding of what was about to happen or what could have happened. I don’t want to speculate and suggest it’s something similar to what happened in the United States,” Ramer said.

The school lockdowns came just two days after 21 people were killed in an elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.