A gun battle between two individuals at a crowded Latin street festival in Toronto left two men dead and at least four others wounded on Saturday evening, according to Toronto Police.

The shooting erupted shortly after 8 p.m. local time at the Salsa on St. Clair festival, an annual celebration of Latin culture in the city’s Hillcrest Village neighbourhood. Officers recovered two firearms and cordoned off three crime scenes, Deputy Chief Frank Barredo told reporters. Six people were found with gunshot wounds; two were pronounced dead at the scene, while the wounded were taken to hospital, some with serious injuries.

No arrests have been made, and it remains unclear whether the shooters were among the dead or wounded. Police initially issued an active-shooter alert but later clarified that the violence appeared to stem from a targeted exchange between two men moving through the crowd, not an indiscriminate attack. 'They were aiming at each other, obviously in a very reckless manner,' Barredo said, adding that an estimated 13,000 people were present at the time.

Canada’s political leaders reacted with horror. Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was 'horrified' by the incident, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford called it 'senseless violence.' Mayor Olivia Chow described it as 'a reckless, despicable act of violence at a crowded festival' and promised resources to find those responsible. The festival, now in its 22nd year, attracts hundreds of thousands annually to a Midtown corridor known for its shops and restaurants.

Homicide detectives and the guns-and-gangs unit are leading the inquiry, which is expected to be complex given the scale of the event and the volume of witness and video evidence. Fatal public shootings remain uncommon in Toronto, which is among North America’s safer large cities, though the attack follows a June shooting in Montreal that killed a police officer and a civilian, and a school shooting in February in Tumbler Ridge that left eight dead.