Police release photos connected to Kitchener shootings

Waterloo regional police have released photos of people they’re looking to identify in connection to a pair of shootings in Kitchener on Thursday.

In a media release issued Friday afternoon, police also confirmed investigators believe the incidents are linked.

The shootings occurred within two and a half hours of each other, in two Kitchener neighbourhoods around 8 km apart. In both incidents no injuries have been reported and police have not announced any arrests.

Police say the first set of shots were fired around 12:30 a.m. in the area of Belmont Avenue West and Karn Street. A Belmont Avenue resident told CTV News one of the bullets stuck his car. He said he heard four shots outside his door and saw a man running down his driveway while a white SUV sped away.

Then, around 3 a.m. a second shooting happened in near Fairview Park Mall. Police say a vehicle was also targeted in this incident.

In new details released Friday, police say three males were seen on foot shortly before the 3:00 a.m. shooting, one of them was wearing a bright coloured hooded sweater. Investigators are now looking to identify those people and are asking anyone with information to contact police.

Thursday’s shootings – the ninth and tenth in the region so far this year – prompted a message from outgoing police chief Bryan Larkin.

“To those who continue to commit senseless acts of crime in our region, it has to stop,” Larkin said in part in a message posted online.

Police have released these images of people they're looking to identify in connection to two shootings in Kitchener on June 16, 2022. (Submitted/Waterloo Regional Police Service)