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A man was shot and killed outside a busy Mississauga mall just before noon yesterday as Toronto awoke from an unusually violent night of gunfire.

The man was sitting in his beige Ford Escape SUV outside the main entrance of Square One, one of Ontario's largest shopping centres. A witness said the man was there only a short time before he was approached by a dark-clad man.

The man walked up beside the SUV, pulled out a handgun and started pouring bullets through the driver's side window, hitting the driver several times in the face.

"I saw the ambulance guys pulling the guy out and trying to resuscitate him," said Richard, declining to give his last name. "There were four or five guys pumping and stuff, but it didn't look good. He wasn't moving or anything . . . He was shot in the head three or four times."

The man was pronounced dead at hospital.

Peel Regional police arrived on the scene shortly after the shooting and police dogs were dispatched along the suspect's escape route. He fled the crime scene on foot, a witness said, and into an underground parking garage. Police were looking for a black male in his late teens or early 20s, approximately 6 feet 2 inches tall, wearing dark clothing.

The brazen shooting occurred in a busy mall area outside a Wal-Mart and Burger King. It happened barely 12 hours after the last in a series of shootings in Toronto Monday night that left six people injured.

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said none of the injuries are life threatening and the victims are known to police.

"It seems clear, at this stage, that the shootings are not connected and that they are retaliatory in nature," Chief Blair said in a statement released to the media. "A number of the victims are not co-operating with investigators."

Monday night's first incident took place in an alley in Chinatown. As a police officer tried to arrest a man, a fight broke out and the man grabbed hold of the officer's gun. During the struggle, the gun was unholstered and fired, although no one was hurt. Chay Luu, 28, faces several charges as a result.

Around the same time, a 30-year-old man was shot on Dorney Court in the area of Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue. He escaped to a Leila Lane address and got help.

At 10:28 p.m., a 28-year-old man at a gas station payphone at Church and Dundas streets encountered two men who shot him several times before they fled in a vehicle.

Then, near 11:00 p.m., a 26-year-old man standing in the doorway of Queen Roti Hut restaurant on the Lakeshore in Etobicoke was shot in the hand and abdomen after a man and a woman approached him.

Just before midnight, there were three more people shot in two incidents. Two men were hit after they ran away from a group of men on Weston Road. Two minutes later, a 19-year-old was shot while standing on Glendower Circuit talking on his cellphone. Police say the 19-year-old has been charged in connection with a May, 2005, shooting.

Chief Blair said crime is down in Toronto, as indicated by the national crime figures Statistics Canada released last week. Still, he pledged to send more officers into areas affected by Monday's shootings.

"The number of gun calls in Toronto is stable, but I have been concerned for some time at the willingness of small numbers of young men to engage in gunplay in heavily populated areas," he said. "The job for my officers is clear: provide reassurance through high-profile patrols and pursue every investigative opportunity."

Anthony Doob, a professor of criminology at the University of Toronto, said the spate of shootings is unusual, but on its own doesn't indicate a rise in gun violence.

"I would guess it's unusual to have that many in that short time, but I don't know what one makes of it," he said. "Unusual things happen . . . We'll notice when they're in relatively close proximity, and we won't notice when we go three weeks without anything."

An unusual spate of violence that saw six unconnected shootings Monday night continued as a man was shot in the face yesterday while sitting in his SUV in the parking lot of a Mississauga mall.

10 p.m.: Dundas and Spadina. A police officer tries to arrest a man in an alleyway in Chinatown. During the struggle, the suspect grabs at t he officer's gun and the weapon goes off. No one is shot. The man is arrested. The officer suffers a bite to his forearm.

10 p.m.: Dorney Court. A 30-year-old man is shot at Dorney Court but is able to run to 5 Leila Lane to get help. He is treated for non-life threatening injuries. No suspect at this time.

10.28 p.m.: Church and Dundas. A 28-year-old man is approached by two men while using a pay phone at the gas station. He is shot several times and the two men flee in a vehicle. The victim's injuries are non-life threatening.

11.00 p.m.: 2957 Lakeshore Blvd. A 26-year-old man standing in the doorway of a restaurant is approached by a woman and a man and shot with a handgun. His injuries are non-life threatening.

11.55 p.m.: 3412 Weston Rd. A 27-year-old man and a 37-year-old man are approached by two or three men armed with a gun demanding money. They try to run, and are shot. Both sustained non-life threatening injuries.

11.57 p.m.: Glendower Circuit. A 19-year-old man standing on the street talking on his cellphone is shot. His injuries are non-life threatening. The victim is facing charges in connection with another shooting on Birchmount Road in May.

Yesterday, 11.54 a.m.: Parking lot of Square One mall in Mississauga. Man is shot in the face as he sits in his SUV in the mall parking lot.

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