Toronto Police Service officials held a press conference Tuesday to provide updates on arrests made in a wide array of firearm discharges, including the March shooting at the U.S. Consulate and last week's killing of Police Constable Marc Pinizzotto.
The common thread throughout all the incidents, Police Chief Myron Demkiw said, is young people being hired to carry out these events.
"Through encrypted messaging apps, young people are hired to carry out attacks against various targets," Demkiw said. "In order to get paid, they are required to film their attacks."
Demkiw said the investigation is still ongoing as to who is behind the orchestrating of the shootings and what the exact motive is, although he acknowledged "it is clear they want to create a sense of fear."
Two suspects — 18-year-old Sheldon Tracey-Stewart and 19-year-old Nicholas Bennett — were arrested last week while a third — 18-year-old Jayon Burgher — was arrested in April. Zara Jabbi, a 19-year-old suspect, remains at large.
Tracey-Stewart and Jabbi are suspected of carrying out the shooting at the consulate, while Bennett is suspected of separate shootings on March 25 and March 26 as well as shooting Pinizzotto on June 11. Bennett remains in the hospital and will be charged with first degree murder, Demkiw said.
Two handguns seized during the searches last week are believed to be involved in more than 25 separate shooting incidents in the Greater Toronto Area, but ballistic testing is still ongoing, Demkiw said.
In May, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted 32 year-old Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi on several terrorism charges, where prosecutors accused him and others of planning the March 10 consulate shooting in Toronto, as well as more than a dozen other attacks across the globe.
FBI investigators say they possess recorded phone calls between Al-Saadi and a confidential source, where he talks about his involvement. Federal authorities also allege Al-Saadi is tied to Iranian-backed militants.
TPS officials would not comment directly on the reports, saying only that they are in constant communication with their international partners but that the investigation remains ongoing.
Watch the full press conference below: