Image copyright Tony Bimpert
A man’s stab wounds left him in a critical condition after an attack that witnesses told police was “unprovoked”.
A 32-year-old suspect was arrested, but police said he was not specifically linked to the incident.
Police said the victim had not been known to them and said there was no immediate motive.
It happened outside of a downtown theatre in a busy area.
Witnesses told Canadian TV station CTV News that the victim was stabbed when he stopped to ask the attacker where he could find a parking spot in the vicinity of King Street East and Spadina Avenue.
However, Canadian TV station CBC News reported that witnesses told it that the victim had attempted to talk to the attacker – and that the suspect’s response “appeared to make the victim angry”.
Image copyright Ross Sorland/The Canadian Press Image caption Witness Derek Donovan told CBC News he came upon the scene of the attack and tried to help
After throwing the first punch, police said the attacker, who was wearing a grey hoodie, ran east on Spadina, before getting into a car, with his victim in front of him.
The alleged attacker then stabbed the victim, who is believed to be of Nigerian descent, two or three times as he ran behind his car, the incident witnesses told CBC News.
Image copyright Tony Bimpert Image caption The stabbing took place at King Street East and Spadina Avenue in the North York area
The stabbing took place at King Street East and Spadina Avenue in the North York area, just 10 miles from downtown Toronto.
Linda Crandall told CTV News she saw the altercation and ran over after seeing the victim being stabbed.
“I heard this big yell,” she said. “I looked over and saw the guy with the knife just stabbing the guy with a big knife, repeatedly, over and over again.”
Dr David Jensen, a trauma surgeon at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, said he had seen a “laceration to the victim’s forearm, and an impressive-looking wound to the back of the neck”.
“I immediately prepared for the worst and he said he was stable,” he told CBC News.
The victim was rushed to hospital with a “serious” but non-life-threatening injury, he said.
Local police urged the public to “be vigilant and to remain aware of their surroundings at all times” on Twitter.