Toronto's shooters-for-hire network linked to U.S. Consulate attack and Jewish sites

Toronto Police connect a paid shooter scheme behind the U.S. Consulate attack to similar strikes on synagogues and Jewish schools. A constable was killed during a related raid.

Paid shooter network tied to consulate attack, synagogues and Jewish schools

Toronto Police have linked the shooters-for-hire scheme behind the March 10 attack on the city's U.S. Consulate to a series of shootings at synagogues and Jewish schools across the Greater Toronto Area, National Post Crime reports. Police Chief Myron Demkiw confirmed Monday that the same recurring modus operandi — recruiting young people through encrypted messaging apps to carry out attacks on video — connects multiple incidents.

"What we are dealing with in this case and in other unrelated incidences, including shootings at synagogues and Jewish schools, is a reoccurring and similar modus operandi," Demkiw told reporters. "And that is criminals for hire."

Shooters were required to film their attacks in order to receive payment, which one source placed at between $600 and $800 per shooting. Recruitment was conducted through platforms including WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal.

Officer killed during search warrant execution

Toronto Police Service Constable Marc Pinizzotto, 43, a veteran member of the Emergency Task Force, died last Thursday while executing an early morning search warrant tied to the investigation. Nicholas Bennett, 19, who was wounded in the same raid, will face a first-degree murder charge in connection with Pinizzotto's death.

"This is an incredibly difficult moment for all of us," Demkiw said. "Marc's family has lost a husband, a father and a son, and as a service, we've lost a colleague and a friend."

Investigators also remain in search of 19-year-old Zara Jabbi, a suspect wanted in connection with the March 10 consulate attack on University Avenue. "We are doing everything we can to find and arrest him," Demkiw said.

Police recovered two handguns during the raid on an apartment complex north of Black Creek Drive and Eglinton Avenue West — a 9 mm and a .45-calibre firearm, both traced to the United States.

"These details are important as this investigation involves at least six shooting incidents in the Greater Toronto Area linked to a 9 mm handgun, and at least 21 shooting incidents in the Greater Toronto Area linked to a .45-calibre firearm," Demkiw said.

Foreign actor suspected in consulate shooting

U.S. prosecutors suspect the March 10 consulate attack was directed by Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, identified as a commander of an Iraqi militia with ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). An unsealed criminal complaint in the U.S. cited a wiretapped conversation with al-Saadi shortly after the shooting, in which he claimed "our people" were responsible for that attack as well as a strike on "the Knesset" — believed to be a reference to a Toronto synagogue targeted around the same time.

RCMP Chief Superintendent Jamie Zettler, acting regional commander of federal policing for the central region, declined Monday to confirm "the validity of that information, but it is part of our investigation. We're aware of it and we're continuing to follow up on it."

Demkiw noted that the broader picture remains under active investigation. "What we know is that bad actors are using criminal elements in our city to carry out these dangerous incidents. And it is clear that some of these individuals want to create a sense of fear in our communities, including in the Jewish community."

Sequence of connected shootings across the GTA

TPS Chief Superintendent Joe Matthews of Detective Operations outlined the sequence of incidents now believed to be connected. On March 10, two men exited a stolen Honda CRV and "fired multiple rounds" into the consulate building on University Avenue. No one inside was injured. The stolen vehicle was later found abandoned in Scarborough.

On March 25, shots were fired at the front door of a unit inside an apartment building in the Markham Road and Eglinton Avenue East area. No injuries were reported.

The following day, shots struck a business storefront in Etobicoke's Islington and Lakeshore Boulevard West area. Officers spotted a dark Honda Civic fleeing at high speed and initiated a pursuit; the vehicle eventually struck a fence and the suspects fled on foot. Matthews confirmed the three incidents were connected and that several individuals were identified as responsible.

Halton Regional Police arrested Jayon Burgher, 18, of Barrie, on April 14 in connection with a separate Oakville shooting. Toronto Police subsequently charged Burgher with multiple firearms offences related to the March 26 Etobicoke incident.

On June 11, Toronto Police and the RCMP executed multiple search warrants across Toronto. Sheldon Tracey Stewart, 18, was charged in relation to the consulate shooting and faces multiple firearms offences.

Demkiw said ballistic testing is ongoing and that further arrests and charges remain possible.

Source: National Post Crime