Teens Paid to Shoot and Film It. A Veteran Cop Was Killed Trying to Stop Them.

Paid Through Encrypted Apps. Required to Film the Attack.

Toronto police revealed Tuesday that a series of shootings across the city - including one at the United States Consulate in March - are part of organized gun-for-hire networks that recruit young people through encrypted messaging apps, pay them to carry out attacks on specific targets, and require them to submit video of the shooting as proof before releasing payment.

‘Through encrypted messaging apps, young people are hired to carry out attacks against various targets,’ Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said at a press conference Tuesday morning. ‘In order to get paid, they’re required to film their attacks. Who’s paying for this? This is what we are trying to determine.’

Const. Marc Pinizzotto Was 43 Years Old

Last Thursday, Const. Marc Pinizzotto was shot and killed while officers executed a search warrant at a northwest Toronto apartment building connected to the investigation. He was 43 years old - a husband, father, and son.

The man accused of shooting Pinizzotto, 19-year-old Nicholas Bennett, was himself shot by police during the incident and remains in hospital. Bennett is expected to be charged with first-degree murder and is also believed to be connected to two additional shootings under investigation.

Demkiw addressed Pinizzotto’s death directly at Tuesday’s press conference. ‘This is an incredibly difficult moment for all of us,’ he said. ‘Marc’s family has lost a husband, father and son, and as a service, we’ve lost a colleague and a friend.’ His funeral has been scheduled for June 24 at the Toronto Congress Centre.

28 Shootings. Two Guns. Multiple Networks.

Toronto investigators have connected at least 28 shooting incidents across the Greater Toronto Area to just two seized firearms, according to CBC News. Police believe those weapons were shared among multiple shooters - passed through the network and used in sequential attacks before being recovered.

Among the targets were synagogues, Jewish schools, waste management facilities, and the US Consulate. The March shooting at the consulate had been designated a ‘national security incident’ by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at the time. According to CBC News, the consulate attack has since been linked to a separate FBI terrorism investigation documented in an April 2026 US Department of Justice criminal complaint.

Investigators have identified three individuals believed connected to the two seized firearms: 18-year-old Sheldon Tracey-Stewart and 19-year-old Zara Jabbi are wanted in connection with the consulate shooting. A third man, Jayon Burgher, 18, has been charged in connection with a separate shooting traceable to one of the same guns, according to CP24.

As of Tuesday, Jabbi remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous. Tracey-Stewart’s status was not confirmed in public statements.

‘Bad Actors’ Directing the Attacks

Police described the network structure as ‘multilayered,’ with young people functioning as the visible, street-level shooters while the individuals directing and funding the attacks remain unidentified. The FBI and the RCMP are working alongside Toronto police to trace who is at the top of the network.

‘What we know is bad actors are using criminal elements in our city to carry out these dangerous incidents,’ Demkiw said. ‘It is clear that some of the people hiring these criminals want to create a sense of fear in our communities, including in the Jewish community.’

Chief Superintendent Joe Matthews, who also spoke Tuesday, said investigators believe more than one gun-for-hire network is operating and that the networks’ reach may extend beyond Toronto.

The Search Continues

More arrests and additional charges are expected as ballistic testing on the seized weapons continues, police said. The investigation remains active across multiple jurisdictions, with the FBI’s involvement signaling US law enforcement interest in the consulate shooting and its connection to the broader network.

For Pinizzotto’s family, his funeral next week will be the first public moment of collective mourning for a veteran officer killed not by a random encounter but by a network that investigators say was operating systematically - and profitably - across one of North America’s largest cities.

References: Toronto police say gun-for-hire networks linked to US Consulate shooting | ‘Who’s paying for this’: Toronto police believe youth hired for gun crimes | Arrests made in string of Toronto shootings including one at US Consulate