Toronto police kill man carrying a gun near schools

Toronto police shot and killed a man who was carrying a gun near several city schools on Thursday afternoon, officials said.

The incident led to five nearby schools being placed under precautionary lockdowns.

Officers responded to a report of an armed man in the area and fired after the gunman confronted them, Toronto police chief James Ramer said at a media briefing.

He declined to give further details, citing a continuing investigation.

Earlier on Twitter, Toronto police said officers had fired and the gunman, described as a male in his late teens or early 20s, was wounded.

The scene where the man was shot by Toronto police is about 130 metres from the William G Davis Junior Public School, which was the last of the five schools to emerge from a lockdown.

All the school lockdowns were lifted after about two hours, according to the Toronto District School Board.

The incident occurred days after a gunman in Texas killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school. The Texas shooting fuelled concern about gun violence worldwide.

Toronto police have blocked about 300 metres of roadway near the scene while special investigations officers conduct their probe, according to a Reuters witness.

“I certainly understand the trauma and how traumatic this must have been for staff, students and parents, given the recent events that have happened in the United States,” Mr Ramer said.

He said Toronto police do not yet have all the details of the incident. “I don't want to speculate and suggest that it is something similar to what is happening in the United States,” he said.

The Texas school shooting on Tuesday was one of more than 200 mass shootings reported in the US in 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit research group.

Canada's rate of firearm homicides is 0.5 per 100,000 people, far lower than the US rate of 4.12, according to a 2021 analysis by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Texas school shooting — in pictures

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126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure

1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch

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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi

From: Dara

To: Team@

Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT

Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East

Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.

Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.

I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.

It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.

Uber on,

Dara

Who was Alfred Nobel?

The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.

In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.

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Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
600-seat auditorium
Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills