Shooting at Drake fest
Police said they seek two men in connection to the shootings. One is a black male, about 6′ tall and in his mid-twenties; he is said to have a crew-cut and was wearing a purple sweater and dark blue jeans. The other is a brown-skinned male, 5’10 or 5’11, skinny, wearing a yellow and burgundy plaid button-up shirt; he is said to be from 24 to 28 years of age.
Homicide police said the two were “persons of interest.”
The festival after-party took place at a nightclub called Muzik near Exhibition Place in Toronto, where it has occurred in past years. Police said the shooting began at a bar inside the club at about 3:20 a.m. and moved outside where there was a second and a third crime scene.
The male victim was shot and died on a patio at the club while the woman, shot outside the club, died while being transported to hospital. The two dead and the three other shooting victims were described as being in their 20s and 30s. No names have been released and police do not yet know why the shooting took place.
“We do believe that there could be other victims,” police Superintendent Frank Bergen told media. “so we do appeal that if anybody does need assistance or if they have any information, to pass it on to us now.”
Toronto police said the club had security at the party and Superintendent Bergen said they were “satisfied at this point that the organization involved was doing their best.” Some officers had been hired to do security at the club. The party had been advertised as ‘The official OVO fest after-party, hosted by Drake with music by Charlie B.’
Kanye West at OVO fest
There was a shooting last year outside the club following the after-party for the OVO festival when a man was wounded, though the club pointed out it was down the road and after their doors had closed.
As the Toronto Star reports, there was a shooting death at the same nightclub in February of 2013 when a 19-year-old amateur boxer was shot dead outside Muzik.
The OVO festival takes place at the Molson Amphitheater, near Muzik. A surprise performer at the three-day fest this year was American hip-hop artist Kanye West, who just last week headlined the closing of the Pan Am Games. West performed Monday night, the final night of the festival.
Police are speaking to as many of the estimated 4,000 people at or near the club as they can and ask anyone with information to call them.