A Toronto police officer suffered serious injuries after being shot early Thursday morning while responding to a robbery involving a stolen e‑bike.
Police say officers were dispatched to Bloor Street East and Sherbourne Street near St. James Town around 3:21 a.m. for a robbery call connected to a stolen e‑bike. When officers located the suspect, one officer was shot in the upper thigh by that individual.
The officers he was with quickly applied a tourniquet as they waited for paramedics to arrive.
The officer was rushed to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, where paramedics at St. Michael’s later confirmed to CityNews the officer is expected to survive.
A suspect was arrested at the scene and a firearm was recovered. The Toronto police officers involved did not discharge their firearms during the incident.
Toronto police say one suspect is still otustanding but they have not identified them at this time.
“What happened this morning was unacceptable … that is an extraordinary and deeply concerning level of violence,” said Toronto police Deputy Chief Lauren Pogue. She said the officer is a three-year veteran and added she is grateful the officer is expected to recover.
Toronto police are expected to provide more details on charges later in the day, but say the suspect was out on conditions related to weapons offences and was also wanted by Peel police and Waterloo police for firearm offences.
“The violence we’ve seen against our members is unacceptable,” said Toronto Police Association President, Clayton Campbell. “We have someone out on bail for violent offences committing other violent offences.”
He said 600 members have been injured this year doing their jobs, highlighting Thursday’s shooting and the fatal shooting of Const. Marc Pinizzotto earlier this year.
CityNews spoke with a man who says he was the victim of a related criminal incident earlier in the night. The man said he was riding his e‑bike home from work near Dundas and Shuter streets when two suspects approached him, threatened to assault him, and stole it. He called police and used a tracking device on the e-bike to relay its location.
He noted that a friend drove him toward Bloor Street, where the device indicated the e-bike had stopped. By the time he arrived, the confrontation between police and the suspect had already unfolded. He said he did not witness the shooting or the officer’s injury.
The investigation is ongoing.
Police say Bloor Street East is closed in both directions between Sherbourne Street and Parliament Street.
Toronto police responded to an incident at Bloor and Parliament. Photo: Bertram Dandy/CityNews.
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