2 teens arrested after student shot in parking lot of Toronto school

Two teenagers have been charged with attempted murder and a host of weapons-related charges after a 15-year-old student was shot outside a northwest Toronto high school Thursday, police say.

At a news conference Friday afternoon, Toronto police Insp. Norm Proctor said two 17-year-olds had been arrested and have been charged.

"Further charges may be pending depending on where this investigation leads us," he said. The two accused cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

"It's a brazen offence, there's no doubt about that," Proctor told reporters. "It's alarming. One shooting is too many, but any shooting on a school property or in relation to a school or young people raises the alarm bells even louder."

The victim of the shooting, which happened just after noon Thursday at Weston Collegiate Institute near Pine Street and MacDonald Avenue, remains in hospital in "critically stable" condition, Proctor said.

Police say the two accused pulled into the school's parking lot in a grey 2022 Hyundai Elantra, and then the driver shot the victim multiple times from the car.

The suspects then took off, and that vehicle was later found in Peel, Proctor said. Investigators discovered the car had been stolen in a carjacking earlier that day in that region, he added. With the help of Peel police, the teens were identified alongside an "address of interest," where they were arrested Friday morning, police say.

"A loaded nine millimetre firearm was seized at this location," Proctor said. The two teens are also facing a charge of possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.

Police say they do not believe the two accused attended the school in question. Proctor could not comment on any links to organized crime, or links between the victim and his alleged attackers.

"We're still weeding through the information and again, trying to uncover the evidence see where it takes us," he said.

More to come.