Toronto Police: Gun-for-Hire Networks Behind Attacks on Jewish Targets, U.S. Consulate

Toronto police say they have uncovered a gun-for-hire network linked to dozens of shootings across the Greater Toronto Area, including attacks on synagogues, Jewish schools and the U.S. Consulate, as investigators work to determine who may have been directing and financing the violence.

The investigation has grown beyond a series of isolated shootings and now involves Toronto police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), national security investigators and U.S. authorities. Police say the same methods, suspects and firearms appear across multiple incidents, raising questions about whether a coordinated campaign was operating behind the attacks.

At a news conference Tuesday, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said investigators have identified a recurring pattern in which young people are recruited through encrypted messaging platforms to carry out shootings on behalf of others.

“What we are dealing with in this case and in other unrelated incidences, including shootings at synagogues and Jewish schools, is a recurring and similar modus operandi and that is criminals for hire,” Demkiw said.

Police said communication between recruiters and shooters took place through platforms including WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal.

“Through encrypted messaging apps, young people are hired to carry out attacks against various targets and in order to get paid, they are required to film their attacks,” Demkiw said. “Who is paying for this? This is what we are trying to determine.”

Investigators announced that two seized handguns, a .45-caliber pistol and a nine-millimeter handgun, have been linked through ballistic evidence to at least 28 shooting incidents across the Toronto area. Police believe the weapons were shared among multiple shooters and passed between different individuals involved in the attacks.

Authorities identified three men allegedly connected to the firearms. Eighteen-year-old Sheldon Tracey-Stewart and 19-year-old Zara Jabbi are accused of involvement in the March 10 shooting at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto. Jabbi remains at large.

A third suspect, 18-year-old Jayon Burgher, has been charged in connection with a separate shooting in Etobicoke that investigators linked to one of the seized firearms.

The investigation also led to a series of search warrants last week that ended in the death of Toronto police Const. Marc Pinizzotto. Police said 19-year-old Nicholas Bennett allegedly shot and killed the officer during a raid at a North York apartment. Bennett has been charged with first-degree murder and is also expected to face charges connected to two additional shootings from March that investigators tied to the same weapons.

Demkiw said authorities have seen the same operational pattern in attacks targeting Jewish institutions.

“It is clear that some of the people hiring these criminals want to create a sense of fear in our communities, including in the Jewish community,” he said.

The comments come after a series of shootings earlier this year at synagogues and Jewish institutions in the Toronto area. No injuries were reported in those incidents, but they heightened concerns about rising antisemitic violence in Canada.

Investigators have not publicly identified who may have organized the attacks. Demkiw said determining who directed the shooters remains one of the central questions of the investigation.

RCMP Chief Superintendent Jamie Zettler said authorities are also reviewing reports linking the U.S. Consulate shooting and attacks on Jewish targets to an Iraqi man accused by U.S. prosecutors of directing international attacks on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Zettler said investigators are aware of the allegations but declined to confirm any connection while the investigation remains ongoing.

In a statement, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said the allegations “should concern every Canadian” and warned that extremists and foreign actors have exploited events in the Middle East to fuel violence and hatred inside Canada.

Police said ballistic testing is continuing and additional arrests and charges may follow as investigators work to identify both the shooters and anyone who may have been directing them from behind the scenes.