A 71-year-old woman was fatally stabbed while she was loading groceries into her vehicle in North York on Thursday morning in what police believe was an unprovoked attack.
Officers were called to a commercial parking lot in the Parkway Forest Drive and Sheppard Avenue East area near Don Mills Road just after 9:30 a.m. for reports of a stabbing.
Police said the victim was located with stab wounds and was rushed to a local trauma centre, where she died.
“This appears to be an unprovoked attack at this time,” said Duty Inspector Phil Sinclair during an afternoon update. “The relationship between the victim and suspect is unknown.”
Sinclair said the woman, identified as 71-year-old Shahnaz Pestonji, had just finished buying groceries in the area and was loading them into her vehicle when she was attacked.
“At this time, we believe she was simply loading her groceries into her car when this occurred,” he added.
“She was simply out doing her groceries.”
Investigators are searching for a lone suspect described as a male, Black, between five feet seven inches and five feet 10 inches, last seen wearing dark-coloured clothing and a balaclava. Police said he was armed with a sharp-edged weapon and fled the area on foot. Images have been released.
It is Toronto’s 22nd homicide of 2025.
The stabbing marked the city’s second homicide near a shopping mall on Thursday, following an early-morning shooting that left a man dead near Yorkdale Mall.
With files from Nick Westoll of CityNews