Shots fired toward Jewish girls school in Toronto, no injuries

Canadian police are searching for multiple suspects after shots were fired at a Jewish school in Toronto early Saturday morning.

Two individuals in a dark colored vehicle pulled up to the Bais Chaya Mushka elementary school in the North York suburb of Toronto around 5:00 A.M. and fired shots toward the entrance.

There was damage caused to the entrance of the building, but no injuries. School administrators who arrived later in the morning reported the incident to the police, who are using footage from nearby surveillance cameras to identify the suspects.

The elementary school serves Jewish girls from the Toronto metropolitan area. In an afternoon press conference, Inspector Paul Krawczyk of the guns and gangs task force addressed concerns of an antisemitic motivation. "I completely understand that this can cause concern and fear and anxiety in the community, especially when it happens at a school like this," he said.

The guns and gangs task force of the Toronto police unit is leading the investigation, with the hate crimes unit involved as well. Krawczyk cautioned that it was still too early to tell whether it was an antisemitic or terrorist attack. 

The inspector added that there would be an increased presence of police officers in the neighborhood and stationed outside other schools and synagogues.

Despite that, Ontario premier Doug Ford posted on his X account: "This is a gross display of antisemitism. It's beyond belief that anyone could be this hateful."

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs released a statement calling the incident a "clear, calculated and premeditated targeting of a Jewish school for girls."

"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," the statement read.