Canada

Saturday, 14 March 2009

Early-morning nightclub shooting leaves 3 wounded

The circumstances behind an early-morning shooting at the Guvernment nightclub that left three men wounded remain murky.

None of the three suffered life-threatening injuries as a result of the Saturday incident, Staff Sgt. Jim Gibson of the Toronto Police Service's 51 Division told ctvtoronto.ca.

The men are co-operating, he said.

"We have no indication they were intended targets. None of them are saying, 'I had a beef with (somebody), and the next thing I have a hole in me.' There's none of that," he said.

"So I don't know what the motive behind the shooting was. We're still working on that."

Police and paramedics went to the club, located near Queen's Quay East and Jarvis Street, about 3 a.m. to find one 26-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound.

The victim had been leaving a washroom in the gigantic club when he heard a "popping" sound, then felt a sharp pain in his arm, Gibson said.

Hours later, two other men turned up at different hospitals.

"We have no indication that they know each other," he said of the three victims, adding he couldn't say at this point where the men were shot in the club.

Police believe five shots were fired, but have only been able to recover three bullets so far. They are working with the club to see if any security video can help the investigation, Gibson said.

Currently, police have no suspects, he said.

Shootings have happened at the club before. In January 2007, two men suffered non-life-threatening injuries as a result of gunshots when they were evicted the club.