Police say young people being recruited to carry out GTA shootings using encrypted messaging services

Police say dozens of shootings across the GTA are being carried out in “gun-for-hire” schemes where young people are paid by “bad actors” to shoot at various targets, including synagogues, Jewish schools, and the U.S. Consulate.

At a news conference on Tuesday morning, police said they discovered two firearms that have been linked to at least 28 shooting incidents across the GTA.

The weapons, police said, were likely shared by multiple different shooters.

Investigators have identified three men allegedly connected to the two firearms, including 18-year-old Sheldon Tracey-Stewart and 19-year-old Zara Jabbi. Those two men, police said, are believed to be involved in the shooting at the U.S. Consulate back on March 10. Jabbi, police noted, is still at-large.

The Integrated Gun and Gang Task Force is leading the investigation into the consulate shooting, with support from the Counter-Terrorism Security Unit, police said.

The RCMP and the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) is also conducting a parallel investigation into what they have described as a national security incident.

Toronto police said a third man, Jayon Burgher, 18, has been charged in connection with a shooting incident in Etobicoke that has been traced back to one of the two guns seized by police.

“We are still doing ballistic testing and more arrests and charges could come at a later date,” Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said Tuesday.

The firearms, a 45-calibre handgun and a nine millimetre handgun, were discovered after members of the Emergency Task Force carried out a series of search warrants last Thursday. During the raids, police said, Const. Marc Pinizzotto was shot and killed inside an apartment unit in North York. That suspect, identified by police as 19-year-old Nicholas Bennett, is facing one count of first-degree murder in connection with the officer’s death.

Bennett, police said, will also be charged in connection with two other shootings back in March that police said are tied to the weapons that were seized last week.

Suspects must film shootings ‘to get paid’

The consulate shooting and others, Demkiw said, are part of a “broader” trend that police are seeing.

“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.

“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. Who is paying for this? This is what we are trying to determine.”

Chief Superintendent Joe Matthews said investigators are still trying to figure out the full scope of the schemes.

“We do believe they go beyond the scope of Toronto,” Matthews said.

He said police believe there is more than one “gun-for-hire” network that is trying to recruit young members.

“The actual actors that are committing the violence are younger in age. In this case, we do not have any person who is a young person… but it is not lost on us that the younger people are being recruited," he said.

“The sharing of firearms is common... We believe that the firearms are being swapped around.”

Communication between the gunmen and those who have hired them is done through encrypted messaging apps, including Whatsapp, Telegram, and Signal, Matthews said.

“This is for monetary gain,” he said.

Speaking about the various shooting incidents under investigation by police, Demkiw said “bad actors” are using criminals in Toronto to carry out “dangerous incidents.”

“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.