Hostage-taker shot dead by police
A police sharpshooter shot dead an armed man who held a woman hostage in front of Toronto’s busy Union Station at the height of morning rush-hour today.
The hostage-taking, which threw traffic into chaos, followed a shooting reported to police in which a man shot a woman in the head at a nearby food court.
The hostage, a woman who was held for more than 40 minutes, walked away from the incident shaken but not harmed.
Police Chief Julian Fantino said an officer in the area spotted the wanted man and chased him outside to the busy train station. The suspect then grabbed a woman passer-by and held her at gunpoint as heavily armed police surrounded the scene.
He held what appeared to be a sawn off shotgun to her head and also pointed it at police.
“Efforts to negotiate or elicit a response from the suspect did not work out,” Fantino said.
“One of our ETF (Emergency Task Force) officers, fearing for the safety of the woman and officers, fired a shot and struck him,” Fantino said.
The suspect’s body lay under a red blanket not far from the busy underground train station following the police shooting.
