The Toronto Police Service is investigating what officials called a “brazen attack” after someone fired a shot outside the U.S. consulate at around 4:45 a.m. on Monday.
The shooting took place more than four months after the U.S. consulate was targeted in a shooting and a day after two Jewish-owned bagel shops, part of the same bakery chain, were attacked late on Saturday night and early on Sunday morning.
The police department has said that at least one of the attacks on the bakeries involved a gunshot and that the attacks on the two Kiva’s bakeries might be linked.
“It’s too early in the investigation to determine whether there’s any connection between the incident this morning and the one yesterday at the Jewish-owned bakeries,” a spokeswoman for the Toronto Police Service told JNS, of the attack on the U.S. consulate.
“Investigators are examining all possibilities, including whether the two incidents may be related,” the spokeswoman told JNS.
An officer was stationed outside the building on Monday at the time of the shooting, Olivia Chow, mayor of Toronto, told reporters during a press conference. No injuries were reported, she said.
“This is when there is a police cruiser, with its lights flashing, right in front of it,” she said. “It’s a brazen attack.”
After hearing the gunshot, the officer saw someone speed away in a white sedan without license plates, according to Frank Barretto, deputy chief of the department. Officers pursued the vehicle at speeds exceeding 87 miles an hour before calling off the chase because of the danger it posed to the public, police said.
Police officers found a shell casing at the scene and evidence of damage to the building’s facade, Barretto told reporters. No arrests had been made.
“This morning, I spoke to the minister of public safety, and we pledged to continue to work closely together to, one, remove illegal American guns off our streets and, two, bring those who are responsible to justice and prevent other shootings,” Chow said.
“I want to say to the person or persons responsible: We will get you,” she said. “We have apprehended the previous shooters, all three of them, and we will bring you to justice. You will be held accountable.”
Gunmen fired several rounds at the U.S. consulate, the same building attacked on Monday, on March 10.
That shooting was linked to a broader series of attacks, including shootings at synagogues and Jewish schools, carried out by criminals connected to a network that pays young people to commit crimes, according to the Toronto Police Service.
A police officer was killed while executing a search warrant tied to the March 10 shooting.
Barretto said that it was “too early” to determine whether Monday’s shooting was connected to the March attack or the broader network but said that investigators “will follow the evidence to where it leads.”
“We know that that is a phenomenon that has unfortunately grown in the greater Toronto area,” he said. “Some criminals simply do perform services for hire. They don’t have any personal interest in the matter. They simply are hired to carry out a specific act of criminality.”
