Suspect in wild Toronto shootout wanted for murder: Sources

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As Toronto Police process the 23 suspects they collared in Monday’s wild music studio shootout, sources said they have found that one was wanted for an unsolved murder and four were free on bail conditions. 

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The person wanted for murder, said police sources, is included on the list of accused. 

“It was a previous homicide investigation and this accused will be charged with murder in that case,” said a police source. 

More will be released on Thursday. Until then, police said they can’t comment on this case, which started as a bail compliance check and turned into all-out mayhem. But police sources told the Toronto Sun that three of the people charged are adults who had been released on bail, while another is a youth who had three previous gun-prohibition orders. 

One of the four was wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet. 

What allegedly went on before the shooting is just as strange as what happened later. Police are aware of and are investigating several social media videos showing guns out during a celebration inside a music studio. Those guns were allegedly later used in the shootout between rival gangs. 

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Bullets were flying everywhere. The result is a large list of criminal counts with a long list of names. 

“Still working on it, we’ll have more information out tomorrow including arrests and charges,” said Toronto Police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer. 

Same goes for the evidence. 

Toronto Police have so far confirmed that 16 guns were seized along with loads of ammunition. 

“There were Glocks and other guns that had been turned into weapons that can fire automatically,” said a police source. “This scene was armed for war and war is what broke out.” 

There were so many guns, as captured by photographer Ernest Doroszuk, that it took forensic officers many trips carrying evidence boxes up and down the stairs of a building at Queen St. W. and Sudbury St. 

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Even though the yellow police tape has come down, the shooting scene looked like a combat field or something from an urban warfare video game. 

This, however, is real. Bullet holes were everywhere. In the walls, in the doors of buildings, in the windows. 

Chief Myron Demkiw told John Moore on Newstalk 1010 just how “fortunate” Toronto was that this did not turn into a scene of multiple homicides – of both intended targets and potentially innocent victims hit by stray bullets. 

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This is one large crime scene. Deputy Chief Rob Johnson said the investigation is so big that officers have been working on it for two straight days. It’s a humongous task. 

“We are still processing everything,” he said, adding the guns are at the Centre for Forensic Sciences and the investigative team is working around the clock to try to get everything together for the courts to deal with. 

“In all 54 bullets were fired. And there were more than 50 rounds not spent.” 

The reason they were not fired was because of the action of police who made arrests before that was able to happen. 

Demkiw said his officers were sitting in an unmarked car when bullets started flying, leaving a hole in the front window. Once the gunfire stopped, they got out of the car to make arrests. With backup arriving, they sure made a lot of them. It was remarkable policing. 

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The officers “had to duck in the car while the bullets were flying through it,” said Toronto Police Association president Clayton Campbell. “They were very fortunate. This was a miracle, no question. We came very close to officers dying here.” 

Campbell, along with Police Association of Ontario president Mark Baxter and OPP Association president John Cerasuolo, wrote a joint letter to the federal government calling for immediate bail reform. 

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“This week in Toronto, while doing a bail compliance check, officers from the Toronto Police Service were caught in the middle of an active shootout between rival groups,” said the letter. “This time, luckily, no one was harmed, but without urgent action next time could be different.” 

While it has been a traumatic few days since then, Campbell said he spoke with the officers, who despite facing a near-death experience are fine and back to work, filling out the paperwork to get ready for court.

“They did an amazing job,” said Campbell, adding they were “very brave.” 

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And effective. 

“One of them right after dodging a bullet got out of the car and commenced in a foot chase,” Campbell said, resulting in an arrest. 

There has to be some hero medals to hand out on this one. Lord knows how close it came to there being a whole bunch of funerals. 

Hopefully this time bail is not handed out as easily. 

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