Montreal police continue to investigate the homicide of 17-year-old Amir Benayad, who was shot in the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough Thursday evening.

Multiple 911 calls were placed around 6:50 p.m. notifying authorities of the shooting near the corner of Roy and Rivard streets, Montreal police said.

Police found the teen with an injury to the upper body. He was conscious when transported to hospital by ambulance, but later died, they said.

"Why on this spot, why there and why this person?" said officer Jean-Pierre Brabant, a spokesperson with the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM). "That's what we're trying to understand, if anything [happened] prior to those gunshots."

"Was there a verbal altercation, a physical altercation?"

One or more suspects fled the scene before police arrived, according to the SPVM.

The shooting marks the first homicide on Montreal police territory this year.

Police have since spoken to witnesses and the family and friends of the teen. Officers are also reviewing surveillance video in the area.

"We know that on Saint-Denis Street there's a lot of businesses," Brabant said.

Quebec Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault was quick to react to the shooting, and said a coalition of police forces across the province is working hard to address the growing gun-violence in Montreal and Laval.

"I would like to offer my condolences to the family and loved ones of the victim," she wrote in a tweet Friday morning. "What is happening in Montreal is concerning."

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said this kind of incident has "no place" in the city.

"My heart goes out to the family, loved ones and friends of this young man," she wrote on Twitter.

Benayad joins a growing list of youths who have lost their lives amid a rise in shootings and other violent crimes since the summer.

Three Montreal teenagers were the victims of homicide in 2021, including Meriem Boundaoui, Jannai Dopwell-Bailey, and Thomas Trudel. Hani Ouahd, 20, was also among the youth killed last year.