{"id":158468,"date":"2026-08-06T19:23:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T19:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/158468\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T19:23:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T19:23:06","slug":"toronto-police-arrest-2-in-july-shooting-at-us-consulate-cite-gun-for-hire-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/158468\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto police arrest 2 in July shooting at US Consulate, cite gun-for-hire network"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ROB GILLIES<\/p>\n

TORONTO (AP) \u2014 Toronto police announced the arrests Thursday of a 19-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy in the second shooting at the U.S. Consulate in five months,<\/a> alleging the attack was part of a gun-for-hire network. <\/a><\/p>\n

The latest shooting in July followed a March 10 attack on the diplomatic mission<\/a> that also occurred before dawn. Police arrested two people in that case in June. No one was injured in either shooting.<\/p>\n

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police also opened a parallel investigation, treating the shooting as a national security incident.<\/p>\n

Police said they believe the suspects were recruited through an encrypted messaging app and were offered money to open fire on the consulate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been significant public interest and speculation about who is behind these crimes,\u201d Police Chief Myron Demkiw said. \u201cThat remains a key focus of our investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Toronto<\/p>\n

Toronto Police Deputy Chief Frank Barredo speaks to media after a shot was fired at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, on Monday, July 27, 2026. (Sammy Kogan\/The Canadian Press via AP)\n<\/p>\n

\"Toronto<\/p>\n

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is joined by police as she speaks to media after a shot was fired at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, on Monday, July 27, 2026. (Sammy Kogan\/The Canadian Press via AP)\n<\/p>\n

\"Toronto<\/p>\n

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow speaks to media after a shot was fired at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, on Monday, July 27, 2026. (Sammy Kogan\/The Canadian Press via AP)\n<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Police leave after speaking to media after a shot was fired at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, on Monday, July 27, 2026. (Sammy Kogan\/The Canadian Press via AP)\n<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Police work the scene of an early morning shooting outside the US Consulate in Toronto, on Monday, July 27, 2026. (Sammy Kogan\/The Canadian Press via AP)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 5<\/p>\n

Toronto Police Deputy Chief Frank Barredo speaks to media after a shot was fired at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, on Monday, July 27, 2026. (Sammy Kogan\/The Canadian Press via AP)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Police identified the adult suspect as 19-year-old Xen-Ul-Abdeen Syed, who faces multiple firearm, arson and stolen-property charges, as well as a charge of attacking the premises of an internationally protected person. A 15-year-old also was charged but cannot be identified under Canadian law.<\/p>\n

Since the first shooting, police have maintained a visible presence outside the consulate. The July 27 shooting occurred despite a marked police cruiser stationed nearby.<\/p>\n

Police said a white Honda Accord pulled alongside the consulate at about 4:46 a.m. and a single shot was fired, striking the front of the building. A brief police chase followed but police ceased the chase as the driver of the vehicle was traveling at an excessive speed.<\/p>\n

Chief Supt. Joe Matthews said investigators believe shootings, homicides and arsons are increasingly being commissioned through online apps, with suspects offered varying amounts of money depending on the crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn many circumstances we know they are not getting paid,\u201d Matthews said.<\/p>\n

Police also allege the two suspects were involved in setting fire to a vehicle in a community outside Toronto three days before the latest consulate shooting.<\/p>\n

Toronto police in June said they believed multiple shootings, including the March incident, could be linked to \u201cmultilayered\u201d gun-for-hire networks<\/a> that have also targeted synagogues in the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By ROB GILLIES TORONTO (AP) \u2014 Toronto police announced the arrests Thursday of a 19-year-old man and a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[50979,48,50978,47551],"class_list":["post-158468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-shootings-at-us-consulate","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-us-consulate","tag-us-consulate-shooting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}