Smoke Dawg: Canadian rapper reportedly killed after shooting in Toronto

Police say 'multiple shots' fired leaving two other victims 'seriously injured'

Canadian rapper Smoke Dawg has reportedly been killed following a shooting in broad daylight in Toronto.

"Multiple shots" were fired in the Entertainment District of the city on Saturday evening, police said, with three "seriously injured" victims - two male and one female - being rushed to hospital.

One of the male victims later succumbed to his injuries, the Toronto Police Operations Center said on Twitter.

Two suspects may have fled in a black SUV or a white car, it added.

Mustafa the Poet, a Canadian spoken word artist, announced the news of his friend's death on Twitter. He wrote: "Smokey is gone, may our prayers follow him to heaven."

Fellow Toronto rapper, Drake, shared a message along with an image of him and Smoke Dawg performing together on stage.

“All these gifts and blessed souls and inner lights being extinguished lately is devastating,” he wrote on Instagram. “I wish peace would wash over our city. So much talent and so many stories we never get to see play out. Rest up Smoke.”

Smoke Dawg, of Trinidadian, Jamaican and Somalian heritage, was part of an up and coming group of rappers called Halal Gang.

He gained success with hit song Still three years ago, and later collaborated with American hip hop artist French Montana and the UK's Skepta.

Last year, he started gaining international attention after supporting Drake on his Boy Meets World European tour.

His death comes just weeks after XXXTentacion, a US rapper, was shot dead in an apparent robbery at a motorcycle dealership in Florida.