A 19-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy have been arrested in connection with the shooting at the U.S. consulate in Toronto late last month, according to CBC News Toronto. It was the second time the building was targeted this year, following an earlier shooting back in March.
The Toronto Police Service released security video taken outside the consulate on University Avenue on the morning of the attack at the end of July. In the footage, a white sedan is seen coming down University Avenue past the building.
According to the account of the video, it appears at least two shots were fired from the front passenger seat of the sedan as it passed the U.S. consulate, doing so right in front of a police cruiser. Police say one bullet hit the front of the building before the occupants took off.
The two people arrested are now facing more than a dozen charges. Police also said a vehicle in Caledon was set ablaze, and investigators said they are still looking into why that vehicle may have been targeted and whether it is connected to the case.
Police have linked the shooting to what they describe as a guns-for-hire scheme. They have previously publicly connected that scheme not only to the two consulate shootings, but also to shootings tied to the tow truck industry and to Jewish institutions in and around Toronto.
Investigators said they are still working to determine who may be at the top of the scheme. They now say at least dozens of individuals in the Toronto area have shown they are willing to take on these contracts, hired through encrypted apps where criminals, whom police described as gangsters, seek out young people to carry out arsons and shootings, and in some cases homicides, for very little pay. In some cases, police said, those recruited are promised an amount and the money does not even come through.
Police Chief Myron Demkiw spoke about the case at a news conference. Investigators were asked whether they had been able to infiltrate the encrypted chats or get help from the makers of the apps involved, having pointed previously to services such as Telegram and WhatsApp.