An unusual spectacle Tuesday saw a section of Canada's busiest highway in Toronto's west end turned into a crime scene, snarling traffic for hours during rush hour as a body police said was thrown from a moving vehicle lay under a tarpaulin on the roadway.
Toronto police Const. Tony Vella said it appeared the victim had been shot before being pushed from a vehicle onto an eastbound collector lane of Highway 401, while the vehicle continued on its journey at about 2:45 p.m.
"Police arrived on scene, at which time they located a deceased party," said Vella. "He was lying on the roadway on the collector lane on the 401 at Keele."
Vella said it appeared the man had been shot, and police had received reports that the victim was pushed out of a moving vehicle on the highway.
"A person has been taken in for questioning in relation to what occurred on the highway," Vella said, adding he could not release the gender of the person or where they were arrested. "Police are still receiving a lot of tips in relation to this."
Yellow police tape stretched across four collector lanes of the 401 near the Keele Street exit. Police rushed to erect a blue tent over the body — in part to preserve evidence within the crime scene from falling rain.
More than a dozen emergency vehicles were parked across the highway around the body.
At a news conference Tuesday night, Det. Mike Barsky said the cause of death would be released following an autopsy on Wednesday.
"The identification of the male is not going to be released at this point," Barsky added.
The incident wreaked havoc upon Toronto rush-hour traffic, with cars lined up on the major thoroughfare all the way back to suburban Mississauga.
Vella said the homicide squad was monitoring the case and divisional officers involved in the investigation, which included provincial police.
Shooter may have been female: report
He said police were investigating a report that the suspected shooter was female, and were interviewing several witnesses to the incident.
Vehicles crawled along the highway as they travelled in the eastbound express lanes, with drivers slowing to get a look at the unusual scene.
Police officers in neon yellow rain jackets walked shoulder to shoulder in the drizzle along the deserted lanes of the highway searching for bullet casings and other evidence.
"The officers are doing their best right now and they're searching this whole area," said Vella at the scene.
Officers were searching for a Lexus that witnesses allegedly saw at the scene. Vella said there was an unconfirmed report that the vehicle from which the body was dumped, driven by a woman, left the highway shortly afterward at a nearby exit.
Police refused to confirm whether a burned vehicle found abandoned near a west-end golf course was connected to the case, or whether there was a possible connection to a fatal shooting near a bus stop in the city's northwest end on Monday.
"I cannot tell you if the vehicle has been located or not," Vella said.
Traffic was backed up late into the night as the stretch of roadway remained closed to traffic and police asked drivers to stay well away from the area.
