A series of shootings, including at the U.S. Consulate and at synagogues, are connected via a criminal network that pays young people to commit the crimes, according to the Toronto Police Service.
Police Chief Myron Demkiw said at a Tuesday press conference that firearms seized by police have been used in multiple shootings by a group of people who also filmed their crimes. Police believe that the firearms are shared among the group.
“What we are dealing with in this case and other related incidents, including shootings at Jewish synagogues and schools, is a recurring and similar modus operandi,” he said. “That is criminals for hire.”
He said young people are recruited through encrypted messaging apps to carry out attacks on various targets, and that to get paid, “they are required to film their attacks.”
“Who’s paying for this? That is what we are trying to determine,” he said, noting that there has been reporting of “foreign actors” but that police and law enforcement partners are still investigating.
“It is clear that some of the people hiring these criminals want to create a sense of fear in our communities, including in the Jewish community,” he said.
Casey Babb, director and senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, said that the foreign entities are “likely proxies connected to the Iranian regime.”
“Dozens of shootings, a murdered police officer, synagogues shot at and the U.S. Consulate in Toronto hit with bullets,” he said. “This is the new normal.”
According to a court filing, the shootings outside the consulate and outside a synagogue have been attributed to Kata’ib Hezbollah commander Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, who is facing terrorism charges in the United States.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) said the police update “should concern every Canadian. The perpetrators of these shootings and those directing these attacks on Canadian soil must be held accountable. This is a matter of safeguarding Canada’s national security and our Canadian way of life.”
The news follows the fatal shooting of a police officer while he was executing a search warrant tied to the March 10 shooting at the consulate.
Nicholas Bennett, 19, who allegedly shot and killed the officer, is expected to be charged with first-degree murder.
Five search warrants were executed on June 11 in connection with the shootings. Two suspects, ages 18 and 19, were arrested at separate locations, and police continue to search for Zara Jabbi, 19.
