Police are investigating after at least one shot was fired outside the U.S. consulate in downtown Toronto early Monday morning, the second attack targeting the consulate this year.
An officer assigned to the consulate heard a gunshot around 4:46 a.m., police said.
According to Toronto Deputy Police Chief Frank Barredo, law enforcement briefly pursued a white sedan seen leaving the area, but ended the chase due to high speed and public safety concerns.
Police said they found evidence that a weapon had been fired outside the building on University Avenue. Law enforcement discovered a shell casing and damage to the building's exterior.
Barredo said a police cruiser was outside the consulate with its lights on when gunfire erupted and that two security people were in the consulate at the time.
No one was injured in Monday’s shooting, according to the police chief, but an investigation is underway to find those accountable for the attack.
"We will approach this investigation with great seriousness,” Barredo told reporters at a press briefing. “We will bring the people responsible for this to justice.”
Authorities have not identified a suspect or determined a motive.
Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, linked Monday's shooting at the U.S. consulate to two recent shootings targeting Jewish-owned bakeries in Toronto.
The police chief said a connection between the attack on the bakeries and the consulate has not been ruled out, saying: "Investigators will follow the evidence to where it leads."
Multiple shots were fired at the U.S. consulate in the early morning on March 10, in which two suspects fled the scene.
That incident followed three separate shootings targeting Toronto-area synagogues in what Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney described as "criminal anti-Semitic assaults."
Law enforcement at the time said that young people in the area were being paid to carry out shootings at various targets, including synagogues, Jewish schools, and the U.S. Consulate, although police did not elaborate.
Police, in response, beefed up security at the U.S. and Israeli consulates in Toronto.
Following Monday’s shooting, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow vowed to hold those responsible accountable for what she described as a “brazen attack.”