No injuries after gunfire in Pointe-Claire mall parking lot

An SPVM police cruiser. (CTV News file photo)

MONTREAL -

There are no victims or suspects after a shooting in Pointe-Claire, on the West Island, according to Montreal police (SPVM).

Officers received a 911 call at 10:30 p.m. Sunday about gunfire heard in the parking lot of a shopping mall along the Trans Canada Route, near Saint-Jean Boulevard.

"When police arrived at the scene, they located a projectile impact on a vehicle and also a shell casing on the ground," said Montreal spokesperson Caroline Chèvrefils.

Police did not locate a victim or suspect onsite.

"A suspect vehicle approached another vehicle before firing in his direction and then the two vehicles fled before the arrival of the police," Chèvrefils explained.

Investigators, as well as forensic technicians and the canine unit, are at the scene to determine the events leading to the gunfire.

This is the latest in a rash of shootings on the Island of Montreal as “more and more criminals [are] wearing and using weapons in the city,” according to Montreal police Sergeant Emmanuel Anglade. "There are more guns on our territory... more illicit guns, more illegal guns, more stolen guns that we've seized.”

He notes there have been at least a dozen shootings during the month of July and more than 480 guns seized on the territory.