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Reuters

The man accused of shooting 15 people and killing two on a busy, restaurant-filled Toronto street struggled with severe mental illness, his family said as police sought a motive in the shooting spree.
Less than a day after a girl, 10, and a young woman, 18, were killed and 13 other people were wounded by a gunman, the suspect was identified by the independent Special Investigations Unit (SIU) as Faisal Hussain, a 29-year-old Toronto resident.
He was found dead soon after the shooting, authorities said.

“We do not know why this happened,” Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders told reporters on Monday, adding that he would not speculate about the gunman’s motive.
“It’s way too early to rule out anything.”
While we did our best to seek help for him throughout his life of struggle and pain, we could never imagine that this would be his devastating and destructive end
Parents of Toronto gunman Faisal Hussain
The suspect, armed with a handgun, opened fire at 10pm on Sunday on a stretch of Danforth Avenue filled with restaurants and family-friendly attractions in the city’s Greektown neighbourhood.
“We are utterly devastated by the incomprehensible news that our son was responsible for the senseless violence and loss of life,” Hussain’s family wrote in a statement, adding that he suffered from severe mental illness as well as from “psychosis and depression his entire life”.
“While we did our best to seek help for him throughout his life of struggle and pain, we could never imagine that this would be his devastating and destructive end,” the statement said.
Police did not identify the two young women killed in the shooting spree. A local politician Nathaniel Erskine-Smith confirmed the 18-year-old victim was Reese Fallon, a recent high school graduate who planned to study nursing.
Gunman dead after killing girl and teenager, wounding 13 in Toronto
“The family is devastated,” Erskine-Smith said in a statement, adding that they have asked for privacy while they mourn a young woman who was “smart, passionate and full of energy.”
Those 13 people wounded ranged in age from 17 to 59, police said.

Close-up of the Toronto gunman, according to video from @ArielAnise. https://t.co/haFpby0CgT pic.twitter.com/ZqJboMYCXp
— Andrew Peng (@TheAPJournalist) July 23, 2018


The gunman exchanged fire with police, fled and was later found dead, according to the SIU, which investigates deaths and injuries involving police.
The suspect had a gunshot wound, authorities said, but would not elaborate on the circumstances or cause of his death. An autopsy on the suspect will be conducted on Tuesday, SIU spokeswoman Monica Hudon said.
Hours after the fatal shooting, in an apparently unrelated incident, a man with a knife was arrested during a military ceremony on Parliament Hill in Canada’s capital, Ottawa. The Defence Ministry said no one was injured and gave no further details.
More human remains found near home of ‘Toronto serial killer’ – but whose?
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote on Twitter on Monday: “The people of Toronto are strong, resilient and brave – and we’ll be there to support you through this difficult time.”
Toronto Mayor John Tory told reporters the city has a gun problem, with weapons too readily available to too many people.
“Why does anyone in this city need to have a gun at all?” he asked in an address to city councillors.
Bill Blair, Canada’s newly appointed minister of border security and organised crime who has been given the job of tackling gun violence, met with Tory.

To own a gun in Canada an individual must apply for a license, pass a background check and pass a firearm safety test. Guns must be kept locked and unloaded and can only be legally carried outside the home with a special permit. Handguns and other restricted firearms require passing an additional course.
Canada’s crime rate rose by 1 per cent in 2017, the third consecutive annual increase, according to Statistics Canada. The murder rate jumped by 7 per cent, due largely to killings in British Columbia and Quebec, while crime involving guns grew by 7 per cent.
Toronto is grappling with a sharp rise in gun violence as gun deaths jumped to 26, up 53 per cent so far this year from the same period in 2017. The number of shootings has risen 13 per cent.
Canadian father ‘died a hero’, defending children from polar bear
Toronto has deployed about 200 police officers since July 20 in response to the recent spate in shootings, which city officials have blamed on gang violence.
Saunders said the police presence would be increased in the Danforth area following the shooting.
In April, a driver deliberately ploughed his white rental van into a lunch-hour crowd in Toronto, police said, killing 10 people and injuring 15 along a roughly 1.6km stretch of sidewalk thronged with pedestrians.


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Canada

Parents of Toronto gunman identify him as Faisal Hussain, say he suffered psychosis

A scene from a video shows a gunman in Toronto opening fire on Sunday night. The shooter was later identified as Faisal Hussain, 29. Photo: Instagram / @arielanise

This undated photo provided by the Fallon family shows Reese Fallon. A man clad in black fired a handgun into restaurants and cafes in a lively Toronto neighborhood, killing Fallon, 18, and a 10-year-old girl and wounding over a dozen others in an attack that has shaken the confidence of many in the normally safe city. (Courtesy of the Fallon family via AP)

Toronto Police investigate the scene of a shooting from the night before in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on July 23, 2018. Toronto police were seeking to determine a motive on after a 29-year-old man opened fire with a handgun on restaurant goers and pedestrians in a busy neighborhood of Canada's largest city overnight, killing two people and wounding 13. The suspect, who has not been identified, was found dead in a nearby alley after an exchange of gunfire with police. / AFP PHOTO / Usman Khan

Police are shown at the perimeter of the scene of a shooting in east Toronto, on Monday, July 23, 2018. Police were trying Monday to determine what prompted a 29-year-old man to go on a shooting rampage in a popular Toronto neighborhood. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto gunman kills girl and teenager, wounds 13 before dying after police shoot-out

A scene from a video shows a gunman in Toronto opening fire on Sunday night. Photo: Instagram / @arielanise

A police officer escorts a civilian away from the scene of a shooting, Sunday, July 22, 2018, in Toronto. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Emergency personnel tend to a person injured in Sunday night's shooting outside a restaurant in Toronto. Photo: CTV

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World

United States & Canada

‘We are utterly devastated by the incomprehensible news that our son was responsible for the senseless violence and loss of life’


“We are utterly devastated by the incomprehensible news that our son was responsible for the senseless violence and loss of life”


Crime

Parents of Toronto gunman identify him as Faisal Hussain, say he suffered psychosis

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}‘We are utterly devastated by the incomprehensible news that our son was responsible for the senseless violence and loss of life’

‘We are utterly devastated by the incomprehensible news that our son was responsible for the senseless violence and loss of life’