Nearly a month after thousands of festival goers fled gunfire in a panic, Toronto police say two 18-year-olds have been arrested in connection with the deadly shooting at the Salsa on St. Clair festival. Both have been charged with murder and attempted murder, police said, in a case that left the city shaken and reignited concern about gun violence at public events.
The attack killed two people and injured five others, and brought the popular street festival to an abrupt halt. Police said the people who were killed had been targeted, but investigators would not say why. As of the update, police also would not discuss a possible motive or say whether gangs may have been involved in the shooting.
At a briefing, officials were careful about what they would confirm regarding the roles each suspect may have played. "Who the actual shooter was will come out in court," one said, adding that "the evidence that we have led us to charge both of those people." The comment left the specific details of the attack to be established through the court process.
Police framed the case as part of a broader and troubling pattern. "This investigation is about gun violence and the willingness of young people to use guns with complete disregard for human life and the safety of anyone around them," an official said, adding that there is a growing concern around the brazen behaviour they have been seeing and that it needs to be tackled.
Investigators also pointed to physical evidence gathered in the case. Police said social media video appears to show one of five handguns seized in the investigation, and that officers searched the Toronto home of one of the accused. The arrests came just days after two other teenagers were charged over a separate drive-by shooting at the city's U.S. consulate.
For the families of the victims, the pain remains raw. Following the festival attack, the mother of Shaquan Quashie, one of the men killed, shared her grief and her anger, noting that her son was only 25 years old. She spoke about how deeply the shooting has affected her family and her community, underscoring the human toll behind the police statistics.
The renewed focus on festival safety comes as Toronto prepares this weekend to host Taste of the Danforth, billed as Canada's biggest street festival. Police said they have added extra security for the event, installing barricades and promising more visible patrols, though they declined to detail the measures, saying it would not be secure to discuss them publicly.