Police in Toronto have launched a search for an active shooter who killed two people and wounded three in an area lined with shops and restaurants.

"Please avoid the area immediately and follow all directions from police," Toronto police said in a X post.

"Police have secured the scene," authorities later said in a follow-up post.

Local media reported the shooting took place in an area where a salsa festival was being held.

Toronto police said five people were found with gunshot wounds after the shooting near St. Clair Avenue West and Arlington Avenue, where the Salsa on St. Clair festival was underway.

Officers initially urged the public to avoid the area while they responded. Police later said the scene had been secured.

No information on a suspect or arrests was immediately released.

A large police presence remains in the area. Salsa in Toronto is a Latino themed cultural celebration.

The incident comes soon after another shooting in Montreal late last month, where two people, including a police officer, were killed by an assailant who was then shot dead by law enforcement.

In February, a school shooting in the small western mining town of Tumbler Ridge killed eight people, including the shooter's mother and half brother, and injured 27 before she took her own life.

Two people were killed and three others wounded in a shooting Saturday near a Toronto street festival, prompting police to warn of an active shooter before later saying the scene had been secured.