Gunshots were fired at the US Consulate in Toronto today
Police don’t have a suspect, but an expert interviewed by CTV says it was “undoubtedly related to what’s going on in the Middle East”
Gunshots were fired this morning at the US Consulate, located near Queen Street West and University Avenue, according to Toronto police.
“Evidence of a firearm discharge has been located,” said a TPS post to social media, which noted that the shooting occurred around 5:30 a.m.
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No injuries have been reported, and police do not have a suspect. Streets in the vicinity are closed as the investigation continues.
Mayor Olivia Chow condemned the incident. “This morning the US consulate was shot at. This comes after shootings at synagogues over the past two weekends. This cannot stand,” she told reporters.
Premier Doug Ford called it an “absolutely unacceptable act of violence and intimidation aimed at our American friends and neighbours.”
CTV News’ public security analyst Chris Lewis said the incident was “undoubtedly related to what’s going on in the Middle East right now” and noted that “there are anti-US sentiments of some sort.”
Lewis added that, based on the time of the incident, the perpetrators “knew they weren’t going to jeopardize lives, but they’re making an obvious statement.”
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
