Shooter was lying in wait prior to ambushing and killing Toronto cop at Mississauga coffee shop

The suspect in the shooting deaths of a Toronto police officer as he had lunch at a Mississauga Tim Hortons and a Milton auto repair shop owner was waiting near the coffee shop for more than two hours prior to the first shooting, police revealed this morning.

Police who participated in a multi-jurisdictional news conference today hosted by Peel Regional Police also said Monday’s (Sept. 12) shooting rampage is expected to result in a third fatality.

Halton Regional Police Chief Steve Tanner said a 28-year-old international exchange student who was working part-time at the Milton auto repair shop where the gunman opened fire just before 3 p.m. is on life support in hospital and “not expected to survive.”

At the news conference, Peel police Chief Nishan Duraiappah confirmed the identity of the suspected shooter.

Sean Petrie, 40, of no fixed address, and who had an extensive criminal record dating back more than a decade that includes several firearms convictions, was shot and killed by Halton police in Hamilton late Monday afternoon.

Police say he had been estranged from family members for one to five years.

The final interaction with police took place some two hours after the rampage began at about 2:15 p.m. at the Tim Hortons in the Meadowvale area of Mississauga.

Calling Monday’s tragic events “…a horrific act of violence that should never occur again,” Duraiappah said the suspect arrived at the Argentia Rd./Winston Churchill Blvd. Tim Hortons about two hours and 15 minutes prior to the execution-style slaying of Toronto Police Const. Andrew Hong.

Hong, 48, a 22-year member of the force, was ambushed from behind and shot at close range as he was on a lunch break from training at a nearby location, Peel’s police chief said.

He had offered to get his police colleagues coffee when he was gunned down in what police say was a targeted shooting.

The suspect was apparently waiting at the coffee shop for a police officer to show up. While police aren’t confirming any specific motive at this point, reports indicate Petrie was looking for a police officer in order to grab an additional weapon.

After Hong was shot to death, the suspect then fled across the street and shot a man during a carjacking, Duraiappah said.

That victim is in stable condition in hospital with “life-altering injuries.”

Police say the suspect is then believed to have driven to the Milton auto repair shop where the other shooting occurred.

Meanwhile, Parole Board of Canada documents indicate that Petrie had a history of robbery, drug trafficking and weapon possession convictions, as well as gang ties at one point.

A couple of hours after Hong was killed, the suspected gunman was shot to death during an exchange with Halton police at a cemetery in Hamilton.

In between those two incidents, Shakeel Ashraf, 38, a father of two and owner of MK Auto Repairs in Milton, was shot and killed at his place of business near Bronte Rd. S. and Main St.

Hong, a father of two, was ambushed inside the coffee shop while on a break from a police motorcycle training course nearby.

According to reports, the shooter then tried unsuccessfully to take the slain officer’s gun from his belt before stealing a Jeep Cherokee and fleeing the scene.

The shooting of Hong and the other victim at the Tim Hortons quickly set in motion a police manhunt across the GTA and into Hamilton.

Less than an hour after the Mississauga shooting, authorities believe the same gunman showed up at the Milton auto repair shop, where he shot three other people, including Ashraf.

In addition to Ashraf and the exchange student who’s fighting for his life, a third victim, a 43-year-old man who works at the repair shop, was also shot.

Tanner said that man was shot in the leg and is recovering at home.

The suspect quickly fled the Milton scene and eventually wound up in Hamilton, where he was shot and killed by police during an attempted arrest.

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which probes incidents between police and civilians in which serious injury or death has resulted,  has said four police officers shot at Petrie during the interaction in Hamilton.

–with files from The Canadian Press