Toronto Police said Monday that shooters for hire who have targeted synagogues and Jewish schools are involved in a scheme similar to those who shot up the city’s U.S. Consulate and attacked GFL Environmental Inc. facilities and the home of at least one of the company’s executives.
Shooters for Hire Modus Operandi
Police Chief Myron Demkiw stated that the same criminal pattern appears in 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 said. “And that is criminals for hire.”
Through encrypted messaging apps including WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal, “young people are hired to carry out attacks against various targets,” he said. “And in order to get paid, they’re required to film their attacks.”
Officer Killed in Raid
Veteran Toronto Police Service Constable Marc Pinizzotto, a 43-year-old member of the force’s Emergency Task Force, died last Thursday while executing an early morning search warrant in the case. Nicholas Bennett, 19, who was wounded in Thursday’s raid, will face a first-degree murder charge in connection with Pinizzotto’s death. Investigators are still searching for 19-year-old Zara Jabbi, another 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 told reporters Monday.
Weapons Recovered
Police recovered two guns Thursday during the raid on an apartment complex north of Black Creek Drive and Eglington Avenue West, where Pinizzotto was killed. The 9 mm handgun and .45-calibre handgun both “originated in the United States of America,” Demkiw said.
“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,” said the TPS chief, who noted the investigation is ongoing. “We are still doing ballistic testing, and more arrests and charges could come at a later date.”
Payment and Foreign Links
The shooters for hire had to capture video of their targets in order to get paid for their efforts. One source has said payments are between $600 and $800 per shooting. The consulate attack, U.S. prosecutors suspect, was directed by Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a commander of an Iraqi militia with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), an Iranian military body.
“I know there’s been a lot of reporting about criminal groups and foreign actors, but what I can tell you is that we are still working actively to investigate who’s responsible for orchestrating these criminal acts,” Demkiw said.
“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.”
