Toronto police say dozens of shootings are linked to ‘multilayered’ gun-for-hire network | Toronto
Police investigators in Toronto say dozens of shootings, including an attack on the US consulate in March, are linked to a “multi-layered” gun-for-hire network that is also responsible for attacks on synagogues around Canada’s largest city.
Young adults and teenagers are being recruited by “bad actors” through encrypted messaging apps such as Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp and paid by the networks to carry out the attacks, Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw told reporters on Tuesday. Shooters must film their attacks to get paid.
“Who pays for this?” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to determine.”
A veteran Toronto police officer was killed last week during a raid linked to shootings. Officer Marc Pimizzotto, 43, was shot early Thursday morning while a team of officers executed a search warrant at an apartment building in the city’s northwest. Police charged Nicholas Bennett, 19, who remains hospitalized, with first-degree murder.
They too announced expenses Against Jayon Burgher and Sheldon Tracey-Stewart for their roles in some shootings. They are both 18 years old. Police are still searching for 19-year-old Zara Jabbi, who they say is linked to the attack at the consulate. No one was injured in the March attack.
Two handguns seized in dawn raids last week may be linked to 27 separate shootings in the Greater Toronto Area, and investigators believe the seized guns were transferred between multiple shooters, police said.
“While we have been able to link these firearms to numerous incidents, we are still trying to identify not only the individuals responsible for pulling the triggers, but also those directing or organizing these acts of violence,” said Toronto police chief Joe Matthews.
Demkiw said the shootings are part of a “broader” trend police are seeing in the city and other areas, and that investigators are working with the FBI.
“In this case and other unrelated incidents, including shootings at synagogues and Jewish schools, we are faced with a recurring and similar modus operandi and criminals-for-hire,” Demkiw said. “It is clear that some of the people who recruit these criminals want to create a sense of fear in our communities, including the Jewish community.”
Investigators are investigating the possibility that the attack on the US consulate was linked to a global terrorist network that has threatened retaliation for US attacks on Iran.
In May, US authorities charged Iraqi citizen Mohammed Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi with terrorism. It is claimed that he was the architect of nearly 20 attacks in Europe.
US court documents I suggest he has too. Claimed responsibility for Toronto consulate attack. The FBI alleged in the criminal complaint that Al-Saadi claimed in a recorded phone call that “our people” were behind the attack.
“I know there has been a lot of reporting about criminal groups and foreign actors,” Demkiw said. “But what I can tell you is that we are still actively working to investigate who is responsible for organizing these criminal acts.”
