The mayor of Niagara Falls insists the city's downtown is "an extremely safe place to be".

That comes the day after an afternoon shooting at the corner of St. Lawrence Ave & Simcoe St in a family neighbourhood, down the street from an elementary school.

An 18-year-old was shot once in the chest at 1:30pm Monday.  He's in stable condition in Hamilton hospital.  Police are still looking for the suspected shooter, 23-year-old Jordan Knott.  He's considered to be armed & dangerous.

Mayor Jim Diodati tells 610 CKTB's Tim Denis he walks downtown day & night without worry & says people should see the core the same way.

He says the shooting is a one-off, isolated incident for a city that doesn't have a gun problem.  The mayor stresses that the city has zero tolerance for this kind of crime.  Diodati applauded Niagara Regional Police for moving quickly in the moments after the shooting & is confident they have the case under control.

Diodati says asking the NRP to boost patrols downtown would be a knee-jerk reaction to the shooting.  He says if there was a pattern of gun crime in the city he "definitely would support it".  For now, Diodati says the city is "in a good place".

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