Police identify man fatally shot outside North York apartment building

Toronto Police have identified a man who died after he was shot outside of an apartment building in North York early Thursday morning.

He’s been identified as Marsell Bryan, 23, of Toronto.

Toronto paramedics responded to a shooting in the Cherokee Boulevard area near Finch Avenue East and Victoria Park Avenue at around 3 a.m.

They located Bryan with gunshot wounds and rushed him to a trauma centre, where he later died.

Residents tell CityNews they initially thought fireworks were going off in the parking lot in the centre of the apartment complex but soon realized they were gunshots. 

“When I opened my window and I looked, I heard noises people were crying,” said one building resident who described the chaotic scene that followed.

“Someone was shouting and I was like, well what has happened, they shot him. They shot him. They shot him.”

With a bullet hole visible in a window of the building, and dozens of evidence markers scattered through the parking lot, many in the complex expressed concern for their safety.

“I’m scared I don’t even feel like coming out of my house. My kids, my son, is scared. He says ‘Mommy am I going to die today? I can’t come outside.’ I said we have to come outside. Police are here for your safety.” 

Detective Sajeev Nair told reporters at the scene that officers received reports that two male suspects were involved in what is believed to be a targeted shooting.

It’s unclear if the victim lived at the building, located at 165 Cherokee Boulevard.