A 33-year-old woman is fighting for her life in hospital after she was found with gunshot wounds inside a vehicle in Mississauga early Tuesday morning, Peel Regional Police say.
Officers were called to the area of Mississauga Road and the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) shortly before 4 a.m. for a reported shooting.
They arrived on scene to find a woman inside a vehicle suffering from gunshot wounds and she was transported to hospital in critical condition.
The suspects fled prior to the arrival of officers and are still outstanding, police said.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, Const. Mandeep Khapra told reporters that the victim was with two other females at the time of the incident.
The exact location of the shooting is not known but police believe it occurred somewhere along Mississauga Road, near Doulton Drive. The vehicle the victim was travelling in continued on some distance before coming to a stop near the QEW.
A construction worker who was working in the area early Tuesday morning said he witnessed a woman exit the passenger’s side of a vehicle and come running for help. The woman, he said, told an off-duty officer on scene that another person inside the vehicle had sustained a gunshot wound to the head.
“It caught me off guard and obviously my work wasn’t a priority anymore,” he told reporters. “My concern for that person was that hopefully she would be okay and recover from that head wound.”
Khapra could not confirm if the woman sustained a gunshot wound to the head but said multiple shots were fired.
He noted that of the three females inside the vehicle, only the 33-year-old, who police believe was the driver, was shot.
It is not clear where the victim had been prior to the incident but Khapra said police believe the three females had been in the area prior to the shooting.
“We are looking into all those avenues as to what occurred prior to the shooting,” he said.
The perpetrators fled the area in a vehicle, police said, but investigators have not yet provided a description of the vehicle or the suspects.
The victim remains in hospital where Khapra said she is “fighting for her life.”
“I can say this is an isolated incident and we don’t believe there is a public safety threat at this time,” he said.
“The safety and wellbeing of our community it always a priority for us and we’ve dedicated all the resources that are at our disposal right now to assist with this investigation.”
