York Regional Police are searching for a suspect who was caught on security camera shooting a woman outside of her home in Markham on Tuesday afternoon.
Investigators released on Wednesday footage of the shooting that occurred near Lee Avenue and Noble Street, by Highway 407 and Kennedy Road.
In the video, an individual wearing a dark-coloured hooded sweater, a green safety vest, a construction helmet, and a blue surgical mask is seen talking to the woman outside the home.
“We see a male party that’s interacting with our victim, who is pacing back and forth in front of the house. There was a conversation that was had,” Const. James Dickson told CP24 on Wednesday. Police have not said what the two were discussing at the time.
At some point, the woman walks back to her home, and the individual pulls out what appears to be a gun. He approaches her from behind and fires one shot at her.
The gun appears to malfunction, giving the woman a chance to get away from him. After struggling to fix the gun, the man is seen firing two more shots towards the home before scampering to a parked vehicle and driving away.
When officers arrived, they located the woman with a gunshot wound, police said. She was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
In a news release on Wednesday, police said the incident is believed to be targeted and the woman was the intended victim, but they did not share a possible motive.
The suspect is described as an Asian male with a skinny build. The vehicle is a dark-coloured Audi A4 sedan.
Const. Dickson said there was road work happening out in front of the home and investigators believe the suspect took advantage of the situation.
“One of the big things we try to look at is when suspects are trying to hide in plain sight. It’s very evident in this case that the suspect has tried to disguise himself by wearing those high visibility vests as well as the construction clothing. We see this quite often for things like break and enters, where suspects try to make it seem like they’re supposed to be in the neighborhood,” Dickson said.
“We believe that the suspect used this opportunity to take advantage of the fact that the victim would be unsuspecting of why he was there and actually went out to interact with him.”
Dickson added there is no information at this time to suggest that the suspect and victim knew each other.
They are asking anyone with information to contact investigators at 1-866-876-5423 ext. 7541 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS or www.1800222tips.com.
