A van struck multiple people at a major intersection in the northern part of Toronto, prompting authorities to close down a major intersection on the city's Yonge Street, police said on Twitter.
A white van killed at least two people on a suburban Toronto sidewalk on Monday after jumping the curb and the driver was in custody, according to police and a Reuters witness.
Police in Canada's largest city initially said eight to 10 people had been injured but later said it was unclear exactly how many had been hurt or the extent of their injuries.
A Reuters witness said there were at least two bodies at the site of the incident. At least seven people were brought to nearby Sunnybrook Health Services Centre's trauma center, the hospital said on Twitter.
It was not immediately clear if the incident was a deliberate act by the driver or a traffic mishap. It occurred at lunchtime on a sunny day and the sidewalks of the mixed commercial and residential area were full of pedestrians.
Police were called just before 1:30 p.m. (1730 GMT) to the corner of Yonge Street and Finch Avenue in the north end of the city, where a van drove onto the sidewalk and hit several people, said Toronto Police spokeswoman Meaghan Gray.
A man who gave his name as Ali told CNN he saw the van and that the driver appeared to have been targeting people.
"This person was intentionally doing this, he was killing everybody," the man said. "He kept going, he kept going. People were getting hit, one after another."
He said a number of the victims were older people and at one point he saw a stroller fly into the air.
The United States and Europe have seen a string of deadly attacks in which vehicles were used to mow down pedestrians, including an Oct. 31 attack in New York that killed eight.
Buildings and workplaces in the area where the van struck pedestrians in Toronto were locked down, and a nearby subway station was closed and service suspended.
Yonge Street is large, divided boulevard at the point where the incident occurred, its center meridian dotted with planter boxes and sculptures.
Many people were out on the streets enjoying one of the first sunny days in Toronto this spring.
Some of the victims were struck in a public square popular with office workers on lunch breaks. Aerial photos of the scene posted on social media showed a food truck parked just a few feet away from where emergency workers busily transferred people onto stretchers.
The incident happened about 30 kms (18 miles) from downtown, where the Group of Seven foreign ministers of industrialized nations, including Canada, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan were meeting on Monday. There was no noticeable change in security around the Intercontinental Hotel where the ministers gathered.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said officials were investigating.
"We're still gathering information and as soon as we can, we'll share more information with Canadians," Trudeau told reporters about an hour after news of the incident broke.
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