Vehicle in crash that sent 4 kids to hospital involved in ‘interaction’ at Mississauga gym

Police give an update on the investigation into a crash between two vehicles in Mississauga that sent five people to hospital, including three children.

A woman and four children are in hospital following a two-vehicle collision in Mississauga Thursday afternoon.

Peel police and paramedics received a call for a collision involving a red Honda Civic and a black Range Rover in the area of Ninth Line and Erin Centre Boulevard just before 4 p.m.

Images from the scene show the Honda with front and rear damage and its airbags deployed and the Range Rover also with front damage off the road and resting on the grass. Debris is seen strewn across the road.

Peel paramedics told CP24 that they transported three children and a woman to trauma centre in critical condition. A fourth child was taken to a local hospital in serious condition.

During a news conference Thursday evening, Peel police media relations officer Const. Tyler Bell provided an update on the victims, sharing that the woman and one child remained in life-threatening condition, while the other three children were in stable condition.

In a subsequent update, police said all the victims, who were occupants of the Honda, are expected to survive.

Bell said the woman, who was the driver, is the mother of two of the children and the other two are their friends.

The ages of the children range between 9 and 12.

“It’s quite difficult to understand exactly what transpired based on the positioning of those vehicles,” Bell said.

What happened before collision

Bell did confirm that the Range Rover, prior to the collision, was involved in an “interaction” with one or possibly more vehicles about four kilometres away at the Life Time gym located on Winston Churchill Boulevard, south of Highway 403.

He noted that police were called to the gym for reports of an attempted carjacking but that circumstance was later ruled out.

“We don’t believe it to be a carjacking at this point,” Bell said. “It does seem to be some sort of altercation or confrontation between the people in that black Range Rover that you see behind me and somebody else in another vehicle.”

He said investigators believe the Range Rover may have been followed by multiple vehicles leading up to the crash and was travelling north on the Ninth Line at high speed.

The occupants of the Range Rover, who Bell said are believed to be young men wearing dark clothing, ran away after the crash.

“There are unconfirmed reports at this point that the initial interaction that happened over at the gym did involve a firearm,” he said.

“I’m just appealing to residents that live in the area here, it’s not uncommon to know that criminals, if fleeing a scene, may try to dispose of a firearm or other evidence. So, I ask that residents check their backyards, please, and if they see anything suspicious, please don’t touch whatever it is you see, and call police.”

The constable noted that investigators do not believe the suspects are still in the area.

When asked if the Range Rover was a stolen vehicle, Bell said it does not appear to be.

“That doesn’t mean it wasn’t stolen. It is certainly possible that this vehicle has been stolen and not yet reported,” he added. ”That’s something that we’re looking into and is going to obviously be a major factor in this investigation.”