Toronto police have charged a 20-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy in connection with a shooting at a Jewish elementary school.
“This is the second incident at the school, and it occurred on Yom Kippur, a sacred day for the Jewish community, making this even more devastating,” Johnson said.
He said no one was inside the school at the time and there were no injuries.
An investigation into another shooting at the school on May 25 is ongoing, he said. Police have not said if there is a link between the two incidents.
“We are thoroughly exploring why these two individuals committed these crimes and any connections to the previous shooting incident at this school.”
Police said Helder Antonio De Ameida, 20, and a 17-year-old are facing multiple charges, including possession of a Glock handgun that had been modified to be fully automatic.
The youth cannot be named according to the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
De Ameida has been charged with discharging a restricted firearm and two counts each of unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of a loaded prohibited firearm, unauthorized possession of a firearm in a motor vehicle, possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, and possession of a prohibited device.
The teen is facing charges of possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of a loaded prohibited firearm, unauthorized possession of a firearm in a motor vehicle, two counts of possession of a prohibited device, and two counts of failing to comply with a release order.
Johnson stopped short of calling the shooting a hate crime
“While I can’t share the details on the motivation behind this incident, due to the ongoing investigation, we are thoroughly exploring why this incident occurred,” he said at the conference.
He said there will be an increase in police presence in the area that will continue “as long as necessary.”
“We’ve increased our presence at these facilities the day of and certainly for days after,” Johnson said. “We’ve relocated a command post there and made sure that there was a physical presence of police officers there, and we are in constant communication with the administrators of those schools as well as parents and various groups to help alleviate their concerns.”
The May 25 shooting happened just before 5 a.m., police said at the time. Suspects arrived at the school in a dark-coloured vehicle, exited, and opened fire at the school, resulting in damage to the front of the building. The suspects returned to the vehicle and drove away.
There were no injuries and no reports of gunshots being heard.
Johnson said there’s been a “problematic” increase in hate crime-related arrests and charges since last year’s Hamas attack on Israel, with 167 arrests and 411 charges laid since then.
“This rise since Oct. 7 is something that we had not anticipated or planned for, and it is a problem.”
