Shots fired outside Jewish girls elementary school in Toronto, none injured

Two men opened fire on a North York Jewish girl’s school on Saturday before dawn, damaging the building but, according to the Toronto Police Service, causing no injuries.

Canadian police are looking for public aid in the search for the men who fled the scene of the Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School shooting in a dark-colored vehicle. The incident was caught on camera, according to the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto.

Guns and Gangs Task Force Inspector Paul Krawczyk, at a Saturday briefing, said that it was too early to tell whether the shooting was a hate crime or a terrorist act but would be investigated with the support of the police hate crimes unit.

“We’re not going to ignore the obvious, you know, what occurred here and what the target of the shooting was,” he said, according to a CBC broadcast of the briefing. “But at the same time, it will be wrong to just guess at this point.”

Krawczyk said that he understood that such an event “can cause concern and fear and anxiety in the community, especially when it happens at a school like this.”

Another attack on a Jewish institution today in Toronto. A Jewish girl's school is the latest target. Two men opened fire, shooting 5 rounds at Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School. Can we be surprised that violence escalates when there is no deterrence following antisemitic… pic.twitter.com/KcSULlG8yl

— CG Idit Shamir ️ (@ShamirIdit) May 25, 2024

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said that in response to the “despicable antisemitic act,” Toronto Police were increasing their presence around religious schools and synagogues.

Canadian PM responds to attack 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the attack was a “brazen act of antisemitism” and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. Ontario Premier Doug Ford echoed the call for the police to find the shooters.

“This is a gross display of antisemitism. It’s beyond belief that anyone could be this hateful,” Ford said on social media. “Every student deserves to feel safe at school.”

Conservative Thornhill MP Melissa Lantsman criticized the Canadian government, arguing that the shooting was the result of a failure to address antisemitism in street and campus protests.

“Wake up, Canada,” said Lantsman. “We’re losing the fight for Western values and the rule of law – and your governments are failing you – all of them.”

Israel’s Toronto consul-general Idit Shamir also said that the escalation shouldn’t be a surprise “when there is no deterrence following antisemitic attacks on Jewish students.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said that the shooting was “ a clear, calculated, and premeditated targeting of a Jewish school for girls. Multiple shots fired by multiple suspects that linger outside for considerable time while waiting for their opportunity to shoot wildly into the building.”

“We demand justice,” CIJA said on X. “We demand swift action. The fact a school was targeted regardless of whether kids were present or not represents another worrying escalation in the violence Jewish Canadians have been experiencing. We’ve continuously been raising awareness of the troubling increase in antisemitic incidents that are becoming more violent and threatening.”

Deborah Lyons, Canadian special envoy for Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism, said on X that it was devastating how the parents of the students will come out of shabbat to learn about the attack.

“As parents, to fear that your young daughter is being put in danger simply by going to school tomorrow morning here in Canada is an unacceptable situation. We need to face this rampant and rabid antisemitism as a country, as leaders, as fellow citizens, and we need to ensure it is stopped now,” said Lyons.

Lyons noted that this was not the first time in recent months that bullets had been fired at Canadian Jewish schools. On Wednesday, Montreal police arrested a man in connection to a shooting at a Côte-des-Neiges borough school on November 12. The target, the Yeshiva Gedola of Montreal, had also been shot at four days prior, along with the Talmud Torah Elementary School.

On November 6, Molotov Cocktails had been thrown at the front door of Congregation Beth Tikvah, JTA reported.

York Centre MP Yaara Saks said that there was an alarming rise of anti-Jewish targeted violence since October 7, with incitement festering into shootings and vandalisms of synagogues and schools.

Toronto has seen a spate of arson and vandalism against the city’s synagogues. On May 17, a vandal smashed the window of the Kehillat Shaarei Torah synagogue after the house of worship’s windows had previously been damaged in an April 19 attack. 

Bayview Avenue area synagogue had signs set on fire on April 26 and April 28.