TORONTO — Four teenagers are facing charges after four pellet gun shootings in the Greater Toronto Area.
Toronto police say they arrested three youths after two separate shootings at west-end schools.
York Regional police say they arrested a 14-year-old boy in Vaughan, Ont., after two shootings in the city north of Toronto.
Police are reminding people who own pellet or B.B. guns to use them in a safe and legal manner.
York Regional Police warn parents and teens that many replica firearms look identical to real guns.
That force says that officers responding to these weapons calls are often in the position of having to make quick decisions on whether the weapon is real, a toy or a replica, with serious consequences.
Toronto police say they were called to a school at 12:45 p.m. Monday after a 17-year-old girl was taken to hospital with a non-life-threatening injury after being shot with a pellet gun.
A 15-year-old boy has been charged with possession of a dangerous weapon.
Shortly after 4 p.m. on Monday, police were called to a second school, also in Toronto's west end, after a 15-year-old boy was shot in the head and arm with a pellet gun on school property.
He was taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries. Police found two teenage boys with pellet guns a short distance away.
A 15-year-old suspect was charged with assault with a weapon, weapons dangerous and uttering threats, while a 17-year-old suspect is charged with carrying a concealed weapon.
The shootings are being investigated separately, and officers are asking any witnesses or anyone with information to please contact them.
York Regional Police responded to a call at a park on May 2 after a teenage boy fired a gel pellet gun at a group of youths.
Two days later, police were called when a group of students were walking on Shawbridge Boulevard when a black Jeep approached the victims and a male suspect fired a gel pellet gun from inside the car, hitting one victim in the head, causing minor injuries.
Police say they have charged a 14-year-old boy with two counts of assault with a weapon.
The Special Investigations Unit, Ontario's police watchdog, confirmed on Friday that a man shot and killed by police in Toronto's east end on Thursday had been carrying a pellet gun.
Officers had been called to an area near a school around 1 p.m. Thursday on reports of a person with a gun.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 31, 2022.
The Canadian Press
Note to readers: This is a corrected version of an earlier story. In the second incident, the 15-year-old boy was charged with assault with a weapon, weapons dangerous, and uttering threats. The 17-year-old boy was charged with carrying a concealed weapon.
