Toronto police are investigating after a Jewish girls elementary school in North York was shot at for the third time this year.
The most recent shooting at the Bais Chaya Mushka Girls Elementary School happened shortly after 2:30 a.m. Friday, according to Supt. Paul MacIntyre.
Security video captured a vehicle pull up to the school, a passenger get out and fire at the building before getting back in and speeding away, MacIntyre said. The school was empty at the time and no injuries were reported, he added.
Investigators believe a total of six shots were fired. Responding officers found bullet holes in the front facade of the school, MacIntyre said.
“It’s incredibly unfortunate that I stand here before you this afternoon to discuss yet another shooting at the Bais Chaya Mushka Girls Elementary School,” MacIntyre told reporters at the scene.
“With just a few days until the start of Hannukah, we know how deeply disturbing this is to the Jewish community.”
Toronto police’s gun and gang task force is leading the investigation with assistance from the hate crime unit, he said.
Police are setting up a command post outside the school and an officer will be on hand 24/7.
The same school was targeted by gunfire in October, on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, and in May.
Those shootings also happened in the early morning hours when the school was empty.
A 17-year-old boy and 20-year-old man were arrested and charged with multiple firearms offences in connection to the October shooting. MacIntyre said both individuals are still in custody, adding that investigators are making “great strides” in their probe of the May incident.
The same team of investigators has been assigned to all three shootings, he said. The only established connection at this time is the location, MacIntyre told reporters.
‘We won’t be deterred,’ school administrators say
Speaking to media, the school’s executive director Rabbi Nochum Sosover said “there were no words to express” how concerning the string of shootings is to the school community.
“I can’t believe that this is the third time being shot at. We’re very thankful that no one was hurt, no one was injured. But that doesn’t take away from the severity of the situation,” he said.
“We want to send out a message that we won’t be deterred,” Sosover said, noting that classes had resumed at the school. “We’re here to stay.”
Rabbi Yaacov Vidal, the school’s principal, said it has been a very difficult year.
“Parents are concerned, frustrated and fearful. Students are afraid, staff are afraid, and no one should be afraid to come to school. No one should be afraid sending their child to school,” he said.
“We are here to educate children and that’s what we will continue to do,” Vidal said.
MacIntyre said police are frustrated that the school was targeted again.
“What we’ve seen in our city in the last year, the antisemitic incidents, it’s horrifying. It’s quite simply horrifying. And we are doing what we can to stand with the Jewish community and we are throwing everything we can at these shootings,” he said.
In a statement, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said the school was damaged in Friday’s incident and encouraged anyone with information that could be useful to investigators to contact police.
“Enough is enough. Antisemitism and antisemitic attacks have no place in Toronto. The latest shooting at the Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School is unacceptable. Once again students, families, and neighbours are waking up to safety concerns.” Chow said.
“Every single antisemitic act is one too many in Toronto. The students and community of Bais Chaya Mushka have the right to learn and teach in a safe environment, free from hate and violence,” she said.
A local Jewish community safety group said students had been welcomed back to the school despite the overnight shooting.
“As we assess the implications of these latest incidents for the security of our community, we are updating Jewish institutions across the (Greater Toronto Area) about the situation and the critical need for vigilance,” read an update from Jewish Security Network, a group launched by the United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto in response to a reported spike in antisemitism since the outset of the Israel-Hamas war.
The investigation comes just days after a synagogue in Montreal was the target of an alleged firebomb attack for a second time in just over a year.
