Canadian officer killed amid US consulate attack probe

A Toronto police officer was shot and killed by a suspect while investigating a shooting that damaged the façade of the U.S. consulate in the Canadian city in March, police said.

A 19-year-old suspect remains in hospital custody, while officers are searching for a second suspect, identified as 19-year-old Zara Jabbi, who is considered armed and dangerous, Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw said at a news conference.

“I ask you to surrender,” Demkiw said.

Demkiw said police officer Marc Pizotto, who was 43 years old and had been on the force for 18 years, died of his injuries in the hospital.

Canadian police said in March that two men got out of a white Honda RV SUV at around 4:30 a.m. and fired multiple shots at the consulate building before fleeing.

The exterior of the building was damaged in the armed attack, but there were no injuries.

The March consulate attack followed rising tensions over the war the United States and Israel launched against Iran in late February and followed shootings at two Toronto-area synagogues the previous weekend.

Demkiw said the investigation leading to Pizotto’s death “related to a series of shootings, including the shooting at the US consulate on University Boulevard. Multiple search warrants were executed this morning.”

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said she had known the dead officer’s mother for 20 years.

“Their pain is shared in this city,” Chow said.

Monica Hudon of Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit, which investigates officer-involved incidents where the death occurred, said the officer was shot in an apartment in the early hours of the morning.

The suspect fired first, Hudon said.