Andrew Hong identified as the Toronto police Constable dead in Mississauga shooting

A Toronto police officer Andrew Hong was shot and murdered while on lunch break in Mississauga in what is being described by authorities as an unprovoked “ambush.” This incident was followed shortly thereafter by a second triple shooting in Milton, which resulted in the death of the “armed and dangerous” suspect.

According to official reports of the chaotic sequence of events, Toronto police Constable Andrew Hong was one of two individuals slain before the suspect was shot dead by Halton police officers in Hamilton.

Monday about 2:15 p.m., two persons were shot at a Tim Horton’s café near the intersection of Argentia Road and Winston Churchill Boulevard in Mississauga. Other crime scenes were located in the neighboring cities of Milton and Hamilton. Monday evening, police reported that Hong was pronounced dead at the scene and the second victim was transferred to a trauma center.

James Ramer, the Chief of Police for the City of Toronto, addressed the media at the scene of the incident in Mississauga. At close range, Hong, who had been a member of the Toronto Police Service for 22 years and was 48 years old, was killed by gunfire.

An emotional Ramer described Constable Hong as a husband, a father, and a son. “Constable Hong was a family man,” he said. “I pledged to his family that they will always have the unwavering support of the Toronto Police Service,” he said. “This is a promise that I will keep.”

The chief of police for Peel, Nishan Duraiappah, referred to the assault as a “ambush” and said that it was unprovoked, adding that Hong had been in Mississauga for a training event.

After Hong’s death, there was a separate shooting incident involving three people that took place approximately half an hour later close to a Milton autobody business. According to the statements made by the police, one person was pronounced dead at the site, and two other people were taken to the hospital.

At around 2:15 p.m., a Tim Horton’s located on Argentia Road in Mississauga was the location of a shooting that involved both an unidentified victim and a police officer. A little time later, just before 3 o’clock in the afternoon, three people were shot near a plaza in Milton located at the intersection of Bronte Street South and Main Street.

In the gunshots that took place in Mississauga and Milton, a combined total of five persons were injured. According to a source with direct knowledge of the investigation, the three people who were able to escape with their lives had been severely injured.

Minutes after the initial shooting, Peel police tweeted that a black man with a slim frame, black hair, and a yellow work vest had fled the area in a black Jeep Cherokee bearing the license plate number CLMZ905.

According to the police in Halton, the suspect who fled the scene of the shooting in Milton was also driving a black Jeep Cherokee with the same licence plate.

A little over an hour and a half after the shooting, shortly after 4:30 o’clock in the afternoon, the suspect was shot and killed by Halton police in Hamilton after a “interaction.”

Initial tweet from the Halton police department read, “Suspect has been discovered and is currently in police custody.”

The four implicated police services in Toronto, Mississauga, Halton, and Hamilton released minimal facts about the gunshots for several hours after Hong’s death. This triggered an emergency alert to cellphones across the Greater Toronto Area warning of a “active shooter.”

At 5:30 o’clock in the evening, Heather Cannon, a spokesperson for the Peel Regional Police, announced that a public safety alert was no longer in effect, stating that “There is no concern to public safety.”

In relation to a gunshot that took place in Hamilton and involved a Halton police officer, a spokeswoman for the Special Investigations Unit, which is the police watchdog for the province of Ontario, confirmed that they are involved in the investigation.

“One person has been shot and proclaimed deceased… in the Hamilton Cemetery,” Chief Frank Bergen of the Hamilton Police Department stated. “This is in reference to the prior shootings that have occurred in the Peel Region and the Halton Region,” Chief Bergen added.

Bergen has stated that there have been no injuries sustained by Hamilton police officers; however, he has declined to comment on whether or not any officers from other jurisdictions have been injured or murdered. He also refused to comment on whether or not the person who was shot and died at the cemetery was armed.