Members of the Jewish community were shot by a replica firearm in a heavily Jewish neighbourhood April 30, in what the Toronto Police Service is investigating as a hate crime.
The TPS says the suspected hate-motivated assault with a weapon happened Thursday night in the Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue West area, when a suspect in a blue SUV allegedly discharged a replica firearm at the victims, who reportedly sustained minor injuries.
The weapon suspected in the assault was described by police as an Orbeez-type gun, a gel blaster type of replica firearm often filled with water beads and used for recreational purposes. They are not prohibited but often confiscated if they too closely resemble a genuine firearm.
The TPS Hate Crime Unit (HCU) is leading the investigation of the incident in the heart of Toronto’s observant Jewish community, and police are seeking the public’s help to identify a vehicle involved in the shooting, releasing a video of the vehicle believed to be involved.
On Sunday, police could not confirm how many victims were struck—although some media reports suggest there were three—or their ages and gender, and if they were assaulted on the street or on private property.
UJA Federation of Greater Toronto posted Saturday evening that while none of the victims were seriously injured, the shooting “reflects an escalation of antisemitic violence across the GTA. Just last week, a member of the community was physically assaulted outside a synagogue, and a Jewish-owned store was vandalized in an antisemitic incident. There can be no ambiguity about the motive. These targeted attacks are intended to threaten our community and force us to hide our identity. It won’t work.”
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs also reacted on X, writing that Canada is facing a wave of violent extremism and radicalization that “endangers the personal safety and democratic values of all Canadians. Confronting these forces requires everyone to stand up and demand action before we face the kind of loss of life seen in Australia, the U.K., and the U.S.”
In March, Canada’s Integrated Threat Assessment Centre (ITAC)—comprising professionals from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Canada Border Services, Department of National Defence, and the RCMP—warned that the Jewish community faced a heightened risk, with the most probable scenario involving a single individual attacking targets that are easy to access using simple means such as a knife, firearm or vehicle.
The shooting occurred a few days after a man attempted to force his way into the Sephardic Kehila Centre in Vaughan and assaulted a victim prior to fleeing the scene. That incident is also being investigated as a hate crime. A day after that, a Judaica shop in North York had its window smashed.
It also happened the day after two Jewish men were stabbed by an attacker in the United Kingdom. On April 29, a knife-wielding assailant with a history of extremism, mental illness and violence, attacked two visibly Jewish men in London’s Golders Green, one of the U.K.’s most Jewish-concentrated neighbourhoods. The victims were treated in hospital for serious stab wounds.
The day after the gel blaster shooting incident, York Regional Police released photos of the suspected shooter in the March 6 and 7 shootings of the Beth Avraham Yoseph and Shaarei Shomayim synagogues in Vaughan and Toronto, two of the three synagogue shootings in Toronto that month. That suspect is described as a tall, thin Black male with black curly hair, driving an older model black, four-door Honda Civic.Those incidents, along with the March 12 shooting at the U.S. consulate in Toronto, prompted the TPS to deploy a special, highly visible anti-terrorism squad.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-3505, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477) or at www.222tips.com.
Joel has spent his entire adult life scribbling. For two decades, he freelanced for more than a dozen North American and European trade publications, writing on home decor, HR, agriculture, defense technologies and more. Having lived at 14 addresses in and around Greater Montreal, for 17 years he worked as reporter for a local community newspaper, covering the education, political and municipal beats in seven cities and boroughs. He loves to bike, swim, watch NBA and kvetch about politics.