Toronto Police Arrest Suspect Wanted in US Consulate Shooting

Forensic Toronto police officers looks for evidence at the U.S. consulate in Toronto on March 10, 2026, after it was hit by early morning gunfire. The Canadian Press/Frank Gunn

A 19-year-old suspect wanted in connection with a shooting at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto this spring has been arrested by city police after a four-month investigation.

The Toronto Police Service announced the June 17 arrest of Zara Jabbi just days after saying he was the lone suspect still at large in connection with the March 10 consulate shooting.

Jabbi is facing six charges, including theft of a motor vehicle, possession of property obtained by crime, and attack on premises of internationally protected persons, police said in a press release on June 18. He is also facing three firearm-related charges.

He has been scheduled to appear remotely at the Toronto Regional Bail Centre at 10 a.m. on June 18.

Jabbi’s arrest comes two days after Toronto police held a press conference to announce three arrests connected to shootings at the U.S. Consulate and multiple Jewish schools and synagogues in Toronto.

Police Chief Myron Demkiw told reporters the arrests were linked to a pattern of young people being paid as guns for hire across the Toronto region.

Eighteen-year-old Sheldon Tracey-Stewart was arrested last week in connection with the March 10 consulate shooting and Jayon Burgher, 18, was taken into custody in April in connection with shootings in Oakville and Etobicoke.

A third man, 19-year-old Nicholas Bennett, was arrested after an officer was shot and killed during one of several raids last week that were launched as part of an investigation into the shootings. Two guns seized have since been linked to at least 27 shooting incidents across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Demkiw said.

Consulate Shooting

Toronto police have been working with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to investigate the early morning attack March 10 on the U.S. Consulate in what officials previously called a “national security incident.”

Police said a white Honda CRV stopped in front of the consulate and two men climbed out to shoot at the front of the building on University Avenue before fleeing in the stolen vehicle at about 5:30 a.m. No one was injured, but people were in the building when the shots were fired. The bullets damaged glass and the doors of the building.

The vehicle was later found abandoned in Scarborough, police said.

Tracey-Stewart was arrested during the execution of one of five search warrants in the city on June 11. He has been charged with theft of a motor vehicle, seven firearm offences, possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, and two counts of failing to comply with a release order in connection with the U.S. Consulate shooting.

A .45-calibre handgun associated with the consulate shooting that was seized during one of the raids has been connected to at least 21 additional shooting incidents in Halton, Peel, and Toronto, including the shooting at the consulate, Demkiw said.

Bennett was also arrested during one of the five raids after Const. Marc Pinizzotto was gunned down in a fourth-floor apartment on Martha Eaton Way in North York. Bennett has been charged with first-degree murder and remains in hospital in police custody after being shot multiple times by another officer taking part in the raid.

Guns for Hire

Secretary of State for Combatting Crime Ruby Sahota told the House of Commons this week that a “foreign entity” has hired gunmen to shoot at Toronto-area synagogues and schools.

Sahota said those behind the recent shootings “were paid-for hires, hired by a foreign entity.”

A day prior, Demkiw had told reporters that multiple networks of “bad actors” were behind the shootings. He said these networks were hiring young shooters as a way to “create a sense of fear in our communities.”

Demkiw told reporters this week that multiple networks of “bad actors” were behind the shootings. He said these networks were hiring young shooters as a way to “create a sense of fear in our communities.”

Demkiw said the arrests made by local police have not revealed any terrorist ties and he described the perpetrators as young people hired to do a job.

But the consulate shooting has been linked to a recent FBI terrorism arrest of Iraqi-Iranian Mohammad Al-Saadi, according to an April 2026 U.S. Department of Justice criminal complaint.

The FBI arrested Al-Saadi, a senior member of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, Kata’ib Hizballah, last month according to a Department of Justice May 15 press release. He has allegedly been tied to nearly 20 attacks throughout Europe and the United States, as well as two in Canada, including the consulate shooting.

Police did not mention Al-Saadi during the press conference earlier this week.

Toronto Police Chief Superintendent Joe Matthews told reporters that the “orchestrators in the background” remain a subject of ongoing investigation. He said a “middle man” is used to pay the hired guns.