Toronto police have a 27-year-old suspect in custody after an early morning gun battle in the city's north end.

Some 15 gunshots rang out just after 8 a.m. in an alleyway of a townhouse complex on Arleta Avenue, in the Sheppard and Keele Avenues area.

Police caught up with a suspect on foot but investigators are still searching for a second suspect they believe might be driving a car.

Police rushed to the area after receiving several calls from witnesses. They found several shell casings and discovered a City of Toronto garbage truck that had had been hit on its hood by a stray bullet.

Two city employees were in the car at the time but they both escaped injury. Nobody was injured during the exchange.

An elementary school in the area, St. Martha Catholic School, was in lockdown until about 10:30 a.m.

Const. Wendy Drummond, a spokesperson for Toronto Police, called the incident a close call for innocent bystanders.

"The area would have been very busy," she said. "A lot of children would have been in the area at the time."

Drummond said police were able to catch up with the suspect because of information they received from the public. However, police still have more questions that need to be answered.

"We don't know what the motive is or what it involves at this point," she said.

People who live in the area couldn't believe the brazen act of violence.

"To shoot guns like that around a school like that is kind of ridiculous," one resident told CTV News. "I think anybody who uses a gun is a coward."

With a report from CTV's John Musselman