Police identify fatal shooting victim in Brampton on Wednesday night by a man who authorities say was armed with a small-caliber handgun.
Toronto police on Wednesday night identified the man found dead in Brampton as Robert Hall, a 34-year-old landscaper.
Hall, who lived in the area, had a handgun in his pocket when officers arrived to respond to a report of shots being fired at the Fairway Shopping Centre near the intersection of Steeles and Lakeshore roads at about 10.20 p.m.
Police believe Hall was armed with a 9mm handgun when he walked into the shopping centre, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
One shot struck a car parked outside the shopping centre, police said. They are trying to determine where in the car his death occurred.
Hall lived in the area, police added.
A witness, who spoke with a dispatcher about the shooting just before it happened, told police Hall may have entered the mall and shot himself.
Police are looking for several people they described as witnesses to the shooting.
There have been no arrests.
Fairway Shopping Centre said the mall will be closed until 8 a.m. Thursday.
Police declined to reveal what the witnesses told police.
The Canadian Mental Health Association is calling for increased support for victims of violence and suicide.
“We know that a small but not insignificant number of people experience the death or suicide of a loved one as a traumatic event,” said a statement from its chief of policy, Dr. Mary Ellen McLaughlin, in Toronto.
“We know that people who are affected by suicide or the death of a loved one often suffer from emotional distress and anxiety around these events.”
“That is why we are also asking that mental health services be made more readily available to support Canadians in the days following an occurrence like this,” she said.
The incident is being investigated as a homicide.
— Follow @Kirk on Twitter