Four additional individuals have been taken into custody in connection with a pair of suspected anti-Jewish assaults involving imitation firearms, Toronto police announced Wednesday, as reported by Global News.
The update arrives nearly a month after an 18-year-old man secured a bail release following his initial arrest under the same investigation.
Chief Superintendent Katherine Stephenson stated on Wednesday that the newly apprehended individuals consist of two adult men, a male adolescent, and a female adolescent. Furthermore, authorities are actively searching for two remaining suspects - a male and a female youth - who are still at large.
“These incidents were not random," Stephenson declared during a briefing. “Based on the evidence gathered during the investigation, we allege that members of the Jewish community were deliberately targeted. These incidents appear to have been organized and planned with more than one individual involved in the coordination."
According to a police media release, the latest quartet of suspects was rounded up on May 22.
The first targeted incident unfolded on April 30 in the vicinity of Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue West, a heavily Jewish neighborhood. Investigators learned that three individuals, all visibly identifiable as members of the Jewish community, were on foot when an occupant of a blue SUV fired an imitation weapon - described by the victims as an Orbeez-style gel gun - before speeding away. The victims sustained minor injuries.
A similar attack transpired on May 7 at roughly 10:45 a.m. outside the Congregation Chasidei Bobov synagogue, located in the vicinity of Bathurst Street and Highway 401 in North York. There, three visibly Jewish individuals were fired upon from a blue Lexus SUV with an imitation weapon, leaving one person with minor injuries.
Stephenson noted that of the seven total suspects identified by police, “some" participated in both offenses.
“There was commonality between the vehicle used and some of the suspects that linked this together," she explained. “I can tell you that from the seven they were organized and planned, and some of that planning even occurred in the day before this happened."
The initial breakthrough occurred on May 8 with the arrest of the first suspect, following search warrants executed on a vehicle and a home. The raid yielded two gel-blaster imitation firearms alongside additional evidence. While the suspect was released on $2,000 bail following a May 12 hearing, specific court testimonies and the underlying reasoning for his release are currently shielded by a strict, court-ordered publication ban.
Stephenson refrained from commenting extensively on the active judicial proceedings but emphasized that allegations involving targeted communal violence “demands a thorough and determined response."
Toronto and the area have seen a sharp uptick in antisemitic violence since the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023.
In early March, shots were fired at two Toronto-area synagogues within several hours.
Last week, police arrested a second suspect in the shootings, a 17-year-old male resident of Waterloo, Ontario.
His apprehension follows the prior arrest of the primary suspect in the shootings, an 18-year-old male who was captured by law enforcement officers in early May.
Also in March, gunfire struck Temple Emanu-El in North York, as members of the congregation were marking the holiday of Purim. There were no injuries but the building was damaged.
In late April, a male suspect attempted to force his way into an Orthodox synagogue in Thornhill, just north of Toronto, and assaulted a victim before fleeing the scene.
A day later, a rock was hurled at the window of Aleph Bet Judaica, a Judaica shop in Toronto, marking the third time this particular store has been attacked.