Police say two suspects who fired a bullet at the U.S. Consulate in downtown Toronto last week were paid to carry out the shooting as part of a so-called “criminals-for-hire” network.
Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw announced the arrest of the suspects during a news conference on Thursday. He said that the accused, one of whom is 15 years old, are facing several charges, including failing to comply with court-ordered release conditions.
The U.S. Consulate was previously shot at on March 10, and Demkiw said the motive behind both shootings is “consistent.”
“We believe that these two individuals were offered payment to carry out this attack through encrypted messaging apps,” he said, adding that who may be behind the criminal network is a “key focus” of the ongoing investigation.
The second suspect, identified by police as Xen-Ul-Abdeen Syed, is 19 years old. The 15-year-old suspect cannot be named under the terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The building, which is located on University Avenue north of Queen Street West, was struck by at least one bullet at around 4:45 a.m. on July 27. A Toronto police security detail was stationed outside of the building when the shot rang out. No injuries were reported.
Video of the incident has been released by Toronto police. At least two muzzle flashes can be seen as the gun was fired from a moving vehicle along University Avenue, and investigators believe more than one shot may have been discharged.
A late-model Honda Accord without licence plates was seen fleeing the scene at a high rate of speed following the incident. A police pursuit of the suspect vehicle ensued on the Don Valley Parkway, but was called off due to safety concerns as the vehicles reached speeds of 140 km/h.
The vehicle, which was reported stolen earlier in the day, was later found abandoned in Scarborough.
Police said they have not yet recovered a firearm.
‘Shootings, homicides, and arsons are all being ordered through online apps’
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow called the attack “brazen” at the time, noting that the police cruiser in front of the building had its lights on when the shooting occurred.
Demkiw said the suspects were recruited to carry out the shootings through encrypted messaging apps, but he was tight-lipped on which apps specifically investigators believe they were using.
Chief Superintendent of Detective Operations, Joe Matthews, would not say how much suspects recruited by the “criminals-for-hire” network are getting paid but said that in many cases they are never compensated.
“We know they’re not getting paid; they’re not getting compensated for what they’re doing,” he said. “We know that shootings, homicides, and arsons are all being ordered through online apps, and they’re all getting paid different—or offered to get paid different compensation for each.”
Matthews went on to say that there are believed to be “dozens” of individuals committing crimes in Toronto on behalf of the criminal network at the “lower level” of its hierarchy.
“And I think as you go up the pyramid, there’s fewer and fewer at each level,” he said, adding that police have not arrested “everybody” that’s been involved with the network.
Two suspects identified in the March 10 shooting at the consulate were previously arrested and charged.
Matthews also said that the shootings at a pair of Jewish-owned bakeries last month appear to be connected to the “criminals for hire” network.
Suspects set vehicle on fire in Caledon 3 days before consulate shooting: police
Matthews said investigators also determined that the same suspects set a vehicle on fire in Caledon three days before the shooting.
Matthews said that, at approximately 9:45 p.m. on July 24, the two accused drove another stolen vehicle to a gas station in the area of Kingston and McCowan roads in Scarborough and filled up a jerry can with gasoline.
“They then travelled to a residential neighbourhood in the Queen Street West and Mississauga Road area of Caledon, where they allegedly poured gasoline on a vehicle parked in a driveway and set it on fire,” he said.
Nobody was injured, and police did not say what may have motivated the alleged arson.
With details from CP24’s Codi Wilson
