Man shot by police outside busy Scarborough Wal-Mart had knife: SIU

The scene at the Agincourt Mall where a man was shot on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014.

A man is in hospital after he was shot by police at a busy Scarborough shopping mall on Thursday afternoon.

It happened outside a Wal-Mart store at the Agincourt Mall, at Sheppard Avenue and Kennedy Road, shortly before 5 p.m.

Police had responded to a report of a man with a knife when an altercation broke out and the man was shot, said the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU).

The SIU is investigating, as they do in all police-involved shootings.

Wal-Mart employees said the man worked in the store’s food department.

Wal-Mart management declined to comment.

The SIU said the man, 40, was transported to Sunnybrook hospital with gunshot wounds.

Paramedics said the man experienced two gunshot wounds to the abdomen.

He is in critical but stable condition.

They said another person, who witnessed the shooting, was taken to hospital and treated for shock.

Witnesses reported hearing three shots.

“I was waiting for my daughter to pick her up from the library,” said one witness. “I hear three sounds, like a pop, pop, pop.”

The SIU is asking any witnesses with information to contact the lead investigator at 416-622-1965.

With a report from Heather Wright