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TORONTO — The U.S. consulate in Toronto was shot at early Monday morning in the second such incident this year, prompting a brief high-speed police chase of the suspect vehicle before the pursuit was called off for safety reasons.
No injuries were reported but Toronto police and Mayor Olivia Chow called it a brazen attack that occurred despite a “highly visible” police cruiser stationed at the consulate since gunfire hit the building in March.
Toronto police Deputy Chief Frank Barredo said an officer at the consulate on University Avenue heard a gunshot at 4:46 a.m. Monday, and noticed a white late-model Honda Accord without licence plates speeding away.
Barredo said other officers in the area pursued the vehicle but they had to pull back as it reached speeds over 140 km/hr in the northbound lanes of the Don Valley Parkway.
“Because of the danger posed by the rate of speed of the suspect vehicle at around Don Mills and the DVP, the pursuit was discontinued as per our procedures,” he told a news conference.
Police found one shell casing near the consulate and damage to the building’s facade, Barredo said.
The mayor said the shooting happened while a police cruiser with its lights flashing was in front of the building.
“It’s a brazen attack,” Chow said. “I want to say to the person or persons responsible, we will get you … You will be held accountable.”
The U.S. consulate thanked Toronto police for their response to the shooting in a social media post.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he is “totally disgusted” by the incident, as well as vandalism and a shooting that took place at two Jewish-owned bakeries in Toronto over the weekend.
“I expect all those responsible to be found, prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law,” he said in a social media post.
Police said Monday it’s too early to say if there is any connection between the damaged bakeries and the latest shooting at the U.S. consulate, but they are not ruling anything out.
The consulate was previously targeted on the morning of March 10 when two suspects allegedly fired multiple shots at the building before driving away in a stolen vehicle.
Police arrested 18-year-old Sheldon Tracy-Stewart and 19-year-old Zara Jabbi last month and charged them with multiple offences related to the March shooting. Those charges have not been tested in court.
The arrests came as police continued to investigate dozens of shootings across the Greater Toronto Area allegedly linked to criminal-for-hire networks, and after an officer was killed last month during a related raid.
Const. Marc Pinizzotto, 43, was fatally shot at an apartment building on June 11 while officers were carrying out a search related to the investigation.
The man accused of shooting Pinizzotto, 19-year-old Nicholas Bennett, was shot and injured by police. Bennett was charged with first-degree murder in the case that has not yet been tried in court.
Barredo pointed to the arrests made in the previous consulate shooting as evidence of a robust police investigation that he said is once again taking place.
“We will also, in this case, take it as seriously as ever, and we will bring the people responsible for this to justice,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2026.
–With files from Monique Kasonga
Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press
