Man fatally 'slashed in the neck' in downtown Toronto, suspect outstanding

Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.

The incident happened in the Garden District, near Dalhousie and Shuter streets.

Toronto police said that they were called to that area shortly before 10:30 a.m. for reports of a wounding.

At the scene, officers found a man with serious injuries.

Life-saving measures were performed on the victim, who has now been identified by police as 50-year-old Jamie Richardson, of no fixed address, but he was pronounced deceased a short time later at St. Michael’s Hospital.

Richardson is Toronto’s 30th murder victim of the year.

The suspect is described as a man, six feet tall with a large build. He is somewhere between 30 and 40 years old, Det. Sgt. Henri Marsman, of the Homicide and Missing Persons Unit, told reporters at the scene.

He was last seen wearing a black t-shirt, black pants, a black toque with a white crest on the front, and black Converse shoes, and carrying a beige jacket, a white reusable bag, a small white satchel, and a dark-coloured piece of luggage. The suspect was rolling the suitcase westbound on Shuter Street, police said.

Marsman said that the victim had just left a nearby clinic when he was involved in some sort of exchange with a male where he was “slashed in the neck” with a “makeshift weapon.”

“The victim sought help with the clinic, but unfortunately, by the time he was brought to the hospital, he didn't survive,” said Marsman, who urged anyone who sees the suspect to call 911 immediately and not approach him.

He also said that while the exchange between the suspect and the victim wasn’t “completely random,” police don’t believe they were necessarily acquainted.

“We have no information that they knew each other. As far as we know, they're strangers,” he said.

“We're eager to get this person into custody as quickly as possible.”

Police have not released any details about what could be the motivate for this incident.

Anyone with further information is asked to contact Toronto’s police homicide squad at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477 (TIPS) or www.222tips.com.

With files from CP24's Beatrice Vaisman