Toronto police charge two suspects in U.S. consulate shooting

Two teenagers have been arrested and charged in last week’s shooting of the U.S. consulate building in Toronto, the second instance of gunfire at the diplomatic office in recent months and another case police have linked to what they call gun-for-hire networks.

Police allege the two accused drove a stolen white Honda Accord with no licence plates past the U.S. consulate just before 5 a.m. on July 27 and fired at the building, damaging the façade but causing no reported injuries.

Surveillance footage played during a news conference Thursday showed someone fired twice from the vehicle. Only one bullet struck the diplomatic office, police said.

The incident fit a similar “modus operandi” as a previous U.S. consulate shooting earlier this year, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said Thursday. He alleged the accused were recruited into a gun-for-hire network – what police say is a loosely affiliated group of individuals who will shoot at buildings and businesses in exchange for payment.

Police allege that such a group was also responsible for the March shooting at the same building. Investigators traced that shooting to suspects who resided in a west-end Toronto apartment building. When police conducted raids there on the morning of June 11, an officer, Constable Marc Pinizzotto, was shot and killed.

Toronto police say two suspects, one of them a minor, have been arrested and charged in last week's shooting at the U.S. consulate.

The Canadian Press

At Thursday’s press conference, police said the accused in both the March and July attacks communicated and were offered payment via encrypted messaging apps. Police know of multiple criminal networks hiring gunmen operating in Toronto, said Chief Superintendent Joe Matthews of detective operations.

Chief Demkiw acknowledged there is significant public interest in learning more about who is hiring these young men. He did not disclose any details about whom police suspect, but said it is a “key focus” of the investigation.

Police previously said the networks use apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal, and shooters must record the attacks to receive payment.

When asked how much the shooters in the network are being paid, Chief Supt. Matthews said that in some instances they aren’t at all, but declined to provide specific amounts.

“What I can say, for what these two people are facing, and the potential jail, and how it’s going to impact their future, it’s not nearly enough,” he said.

The elder of the two accused, 19-year-old Xen-Ul-Abdeen Syed, was arrested Saturday and faces 15 charges including discharging a restricted firearm at a place. He was previously charged in May for failing to comply with a release order and possessing cocaine, according to court documents.

The 15-year-old, arrested Wednesday, cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. He faces 17 charges, which include many similar to Mr. Syed’s charges and six counts of failing to comply with release orders.

Toronto police investigating shooting at U.S. consulate

Both men have been charged with a specific provision of the Criminal Code that prohibits attacks on “premises of internationally protected persons.” An internationally protected person is a United Nations designation for foreign dignitaries, whom Canada is obliged to provide with enhanced protection.

The allegations against both accused have not been proven in court.

The U.S. consulate said in an e-mailed statement that it appreciates the co-operation between U.S. and Canadian law enforcement to arrest the suspects.

Toronto police had stationed an officer outside the consulate after the March shooting. The surveillance footage shown at the news conference did not capture the officer on scene, but police said Thursday that officer called a nearby squad car, which pursued the vehicle at speeds of more than 140 kilometres an hour. The chase was called off because of safety protocols.

Police said the vehicle later was found abandoned near Scarborough, Ont. Investigators used techniques such as forensic analysis and video canvassing to identify the two suspects.

No firearms have been recovered, but police previously said a shell casing from a handgun was found at the scene.

Chief Demkiw said Toronto police will maintain their presence at the consulate and are working with U.S. authorities to secure the building, but didn’t elaborate.

U.S. prosecutors and the FBI have previously linked the March consulate shooting to Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, allegedly an Iraqi terrorist with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He was arrested in Turkey in May and remains in U.S. custody.

Iraqi man facing U.S. terrorism charges linked to Toronto shootings

Asked about the indictment of Mr. Al-Saadi and whether there was any connection between him and the accused in the consulate shootings, Chief Supt. Matthews said: “I can’t speak to that connection at this point.”

Two days before the July consulate attack, a Jewish-owned bakery was shot at overnight in the area of Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue West, triggering a police investigation.

Chief Supt. Matthews said that while the investigation hasn’t yielded a connection between the accused and that incident, the modus operandi was the same as with the consulate shootings.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, an advocacy group, said in a Thursday news release that the shootings “must be considered within” a concerning trend of international terrorism mingling with local criminals.

“Chief Demkiw asks the right question: who is behind these crimes? The individuals and entities that recruit, direct, and finance these attacks must be identified and brought to justice,” the news release said.

In June, police arrested and charged two men accused of shooting at the U.S. consulate in March, tying them to a gun-for-hire network that has allegedly targeted synagogues and businesses.

Police alleged Zara Jabbi and co-accused Sheldon Tracey-Stewart stole an SUV, drove to the consulate and shot at the building multiple times before ditching the vehicle.

Mr. Jabbi faces six charges in connection with the shooting. Mr. Tracey-Stewart faces 11 charges, including vehicle theft, illegal firearm possession and discharging a firearm.

The allegations against them have not been tested in court.

At the time, Toronto police alleged the guns-for-hire network was linked to 27 shootings in the city.

Editor’s note: Due to an error introduced in editing, a previous version of this article omitted the surname of Xen-Ul-Abdeen Syed. This version has been updated.