Toronto police said Tuesday that a string of recent shootings in the city, including attacks targeting the United States consulate, synagogues and Jewish schools, was linked to a “criminals for hire” network that recruited 18-year-olds for pay. Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said the shooters were recruited through encrypted messaging apps and “in order to be paid, they were required to record their attacks.” He said the shootings shared a common pattern: They were carried out by a group of people who documented every stage of the crimes they committed.
Toronto police are investigating the case in cooperation with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the FBI. Authorities seized a 9 mm handgun allegedly used in six shootings, as well as a .45-caliber handgun used in 21 shootings. Both weapons originally came from the United States. “What we are dealing with now, including shootings at synagogues and Jewish schools, is a repeated and similar pattern, and it is criminals for hire,” Demkiw said. “This is a new reality.”
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Damage at Kehillat Shaarei Torah synagogue in north Toronto, vandalized for the 10th time in just over a year and a half
(Photo: National Post)
Investigators are still trying to determine who financed the attacks. Demkiw said there had been reports of involvement by “foreign actors,” but stressed that police and other authorities were still actively investigating that possibility. “What is clear is 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. According to Demkiw, the criminal networks extend beyond Toronto’s geographic boundaries and operate on a national scale, and possibly internationally.
Officials familiar with the investigation assessed that the “foreign actors” involved were likely branches connected to the Iranian regime. Court documents have already revealed that shootings outside the US consulate and outside a synagogue have been attributed to Mohammad al-Saadi, a commander in the pro-Iranian militia Kataib Hezbollah, who faces terrorism charges in the United States.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Canada responded to the developments by saying the police update should concern every Canadian citizen, and that both those who carried out the shootings and those directing the attacks on Canadian soil must be brought to justice. The organization said the matter was first and foremost about “protecting Canada’s national security and way of life.”
The latest developments come after a local police officer was killed during a raid on a site where suspects were staying. Veteran officer Mark Finizzotto was shot dead while police carried out a search connected to the investigation into the shooting at the US consulate in early March 2026. The investigation eventually led to arrests and charges, including an indictment against Nicholas Bennett, 19, for the first-degree murder of Finizzotto. Bennett remains hospitalized with gunshot wounds sustained during the confrontation with police. Court documents showed that Bennett is also accused in two additional Toronto shootings in March, as well as illegal possession of a firearm and involvement in a shooting at a residential complex in the city.
Another suspect, Sheldon Stewart, 18, was arrested and faces 11 charges, including vehicle theft, illegal possession of a firearm and discharging a firearm. At the press conference, Demkiw also announced charges against a third suspect, 18-year-old Gion Burger. Burger was arrested over a shooting at a home in Oakville, and Toronto police later charged him in connection with a shooting at a business in the city. He faces seven charges, including possession of a firearm in violation of a prohibition order.
Police are still searching for another suspect, 19-year-old Zara Javi, who remains at large. A source familiar with the investigation said the network was also responsible for shootings at buildings belonging to Canadian waste management company GFL Environmental, as well as private homes and towing companies. Demkiw declined to comment on those claims, saying only that the investigation was ongoing.