Police investigate shooting at Jewish girls’ school in Toronto | World News

No injuries were reported, but police said their Hate Crimes Unit and Firearms and Gang Task Force are investigating the case.

PTC Newsroom: Toronto police are reportedly looking for several people in connection with a shooting at a North York elementary school early Saturday morning.

At Bais Chaya Mushka School, a school for Jewish girls in the Greater Toronto Area, the suspects fired shots from a dark-colored vehicle shortly before 5 a.m. and then fled, according to Inspector Paul Krawczyk of the Guns and Gangs Task Force, who made the statement during a news conference Saturday afternoon.

When staff contacted investigators around 9 a.m. Saturday morning to report “evidence of a firearm being used” at the school, police were dispatched to the scene, according to Krawczyk. “I completely understand that this can cause concern, fear and anxiety in the community, especially when it happens at a school like this,” Krawczyk said.

Krawczyk said that while there were no injuries, the facade of the school was damaged. Krawczyk said it was too early to determine whether the shooting was a terrorist attack or a hate crime.

“We’re not going to ignore the obvious, which is what happened here and who the target of the shooting was,” he continued. “But at the same time, it would be wrong to just guess now.”

According to Krawczyk, the police hate crimes unit will assist the firearms and gang task force in charge of the investigation.

Krawczyk said police will be on the scene more frequently in the Dufferin Street and Finch Avenue W area, knocking on doors and asking people for information. He said officers will also be on duty at other schools and synagogues.

In addition, Krawczyk said people may come across video footage purporting to be from the incident making the rounds online, but he asked people not to share any footage they find until police have completed their investigation.

Ontario leaders and Jewish organizations call for action

Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the shooting a “blatant expression of anti-Semitism” in a post on X.

“It is unbelievable that someone could be so cruel.” “Every student should feel safe at school,” he said, advising anyone with information to call the police.

“These cowards must be found and brought to justice.”

Jewish organizations are responding to the incident by calling for additional measures. According to a statement from the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, it was a “clear, calculated and deliberate attack on a Jewish girls’ school.”

“The fact that a school was targeted, regardless of whether children were present or not, represents another disturbing escalation of the violence experienced by Jewish Canadians,” the letter continues.

“We demand justice. We expect swift action.”

Michael Levitt, president and CEO of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, said in a separate statement that the shootings “must serve as a wake-up call” for political leaders to “take the decisive action necessary to confront escalating hatred.”

“The Jews of this country will neither hide nor tremble in fear in the face of this brazen and cowardly act,” Levitt said.

Anyone with knowledge is asked to contact police investigators.