Police report seizing 2 loaded handguns on weekend

Toronto police say they seized loaded handguns in two separate investigations on the weekend.

One of the guns was seized when members of the guns and gangs task force executed a search warrant Sunday at a townhouse unit on Munro Street, near Dundas Street East and the Don Valley Parkway.

Police say that a man inside the home ran up a flight of stairs when officers entered.

He was allegedly observed "discarding a firearm" on a balcony, which police subsequently seized.

A 22-year-old Ajax man faces 10 drug- and firearm-related charges.

Also Sunday, police stopped a vehicle that was travelling along Danforth Road because officers believed a person inside the car was "in possession of a firearm."

A man was arrested and police seized a loaded handgun.

A 22-year-old Toronto man now faces eight firearm-related charges.

Police have been reaching out to the public in recent weeks in hopes of obtaining tips about guns and the people who possess them.

According to preliminary statistics posted on the police website, there have been 156 reported shootings since the start of the year.

That’s an increase of 24.8 per cent compared to the number of shootings reported as of Aug. 7 of last year, but slightly less than the 162 shootings reported at this point in 2009.