A Toronto mother spent her Monday sobbing and being comforted by family as she tried to grapple with the news that her son had been shot to death.

"I rushed down there. I prayed, I prayed that it wasn't true," Marcia Vassell said through her tears about her son, Jerome Leigh Ellington, 25.

"I have no clue (why someone would do this) because Jerome was a loving person. I have no idea why someone would want to do that to him."

Ellington, a Humber College graduate who had previous contact with police, was one of two men shot in separate incidents on Toronto's streets Sunday night.

Police were called to the area of Jane Street and Yorkgate Boulevard around 10 p.m., after a man was shot and killed outside.

In a news release issued Monday afternoon, police identified Ellington as the city's 40th homicide victim of 2010. An autopsy has yet to be scheduled.

He is survived by his mother and three siblings, along with a toddler son.

Two people were taken in for questioning and released, police said. Homicide detectives are still investigating.

No one else was reported injured in the incident. It is unknown if there are any eyewitnesses to the shooting or in the period immediately before.

Neighbours did report hearing about six shots in rapid succession.

"My daughter -- little, only two years old -- was crying," area resident Danny Gelgran told CTV Toronto.

Ellington had apparently been visiting his girlfriend at her mother's townhouse when the shooting occurred. One resident said it's the only violent criminal trouble in the area in the 18 months he's lived there.

Police found bullet holes in the windows of surrounding townhouses. They say it's fortunate no one else was injured.

Det. Paul Worden of the homicide squad said they could really use the help of area residents. He asked them to let police know if they see a discarded handgun or clothing.

People can call 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).

Parkdale shooting

Earlier in the evening, another man was shot repeatedly outside Parkdale Collegiate, near Queen Street and Jameson Avenue.

The man was rushed to Sunnybrook hospital after reportedly being shot four times, once in the head and three times in the chest, shortly before 6 p.m.

He was rushed to St. Michael's Hospital by a police escort and remains in serious condition.

No arrests have been made, but dozens reportedly witnessed the shooting.

Plea for help

The family of a 27-year-old man who died in a Friday night shooting at Lawrence Avenue East and Bellamy Road made a plea for help from the public to find who killed him.

LaDawn Clark said Monday she was speaking for her sister, the widow of Jahmeel Spence. He is Toronto's 39th homicide victim of 2010.

"'Jahmeel Spence was a wonderful husband and an amazing father. Whoever murdered my love took him away from two children who miss him.'"

A memorial of flowers now sits where Spence died at the townhouse where a family barbecue had been taking place.

It is the second time violent death has befallen the Spence family.

In 1996, Jahmeel's younger brother Ishmael, a teenager, was stabbed to death at Kennedy subway station.

Dennis Oppong, the man convicted in Ishmael's death, was himself shot to death in 2006 after serving four years in prison.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Naomi Parness