A Vaughan man was arrested and charged with two drive-by gel pellet gun shootings against Jewish Toronto residents, the Toronto Police Service announced on Friday, soon after the latest attack on Jews outside of a synagogue.
18-year-old Ruslan Novruzov was charged with four counts of assault with a weapon and two counts of possession of a weapon for dangerous purposes, in relation to the attacks on Toronto Jews on Thursday night and last Thursday.
Novruzov had allegedly fired a gel pellet gun at visibly Jewish people standing outside the Congregation Chasidei Bobov synagogue on Thursday night, hitting one person and inflicting minor injuries.
The Toronto Police Service (TPS) said that “suspects” fled in a vehicle, but at a press conference, officers said the investigation was ongoing and that no one had been charged yet as an accessory to the crime.
The Thursday incident was preceded a week before by an assault in which three identifiable Jewish residents were walking and were shot at with a gel pellet gun, inflicting minor injuries. The suspect, who was inside the vehicle at the time that he discharged the imitation firearm, drove off soon after.
The police made appeals to the public in both cases, and according to the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto and TPS, information provided by the Jewish Security Network and Shomrim Toronto enabled law enforcement to make a quick arrest.
TPS searched Novruzov’s residence and vehicle on Friday morning, seizing two “gel-blaster imitation firearms.” Both incidents are being investigated as hate-motivated offenses.
In a press conference, acting Deputy Chief Joe Matthews said that the two incidents were concerning because they targeted residents who were visibly Jewish.
“We recognize that Jewish residents have been living with a heightened sense of fear due to repeated incidents targeting their community, and this only adds to that, which is unacceptable,” said Matthews. “While the weapons used were imitation firearms, the impacts are very real. These are criminal acts that we allege were meant to intimidate and cause fear.”
At the same press conference, Ontario Solicitor General Michael Kerzner said that the provincial government wouldn’t allow such acts of antisemitism to become normalized and thanked the TPS for their speedy response.
“The Jewish community around the world is under attack,” said Kerzner. “We are under attack like never before, and antisemitism, a global virus that has metastasized, finds itself right here on Bathurst street, a street that my grandparents moved to from Poland in 1932, a street that represents the Jewish community’s past, the present, and one day will represent the future.”
Kerzner called on other Canadian religious communities to stand with their Jewish neighbors as they continued to be attacked.
“One act of antisemitism is not just an attack on the Jewish community; it is an attack on everyone that upholds the values of tolerance, of decency, of friendship,” said Kerzner.
Canadian government denounces antisemitic attack
Prime Minister Mark Carney said on X/Twitter on Friday that he was relieved that an arrest had been made and promised law enforcement would have his full support, noting that his government had introduced new legislation to strengthen the criminal code last year.
Deputy opposition leader and Thornhill MP Melissa Lantsman said on X that she was “heartbroken and furious” by the fresh incident, slamming Carney’s government for being too “spineless” to name antisemites or “defend what Canada once stood for.”
Lantsman said that the federal government was giving antisemites “the room to flourish,” and dismissed choruses of “thoughts and prayers.”
“You can’t spend decades hollowing out a national identity, tell people shared values are the problem, then act shocked when hate fills the void,” said Lantsman.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on social media the same day that he was “disgusted” by recent antisemitic attacks in the greater Toronto area.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow visited the Chasidei Bobov synagogue, and afterward said that the city had to be a place where everyone could “be free to practice their faith and live without fear.”
“We all have a responsibility to stand against hate, and I will always stand with Toronto’s Jewish community,” Chow said in a video statement.
The UJA Federation said on social media that it would persevere amid antisemitic attacks, but expressed alarm about repeated incidents over recent weeks.
“These alarming antisemitic attacks, now occurring in rapid succession, must not be allowed to continue,” said the Federation. “These escalating acts of intimidation and extremism threaten not only the Jewish community, but the safety and social fabric of our broader society. Everyone in Canada should be concerned.”
On Friday, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said on X that authorities needed to confront the threat of antisemitism before there was a more serious, violent incident that resulted in the loss of life.
“The cumulative impact on the Jewish community is profound,” CIJA said on social media before the arrest. “Families should not have to fear attending synagogue, gathering in community spaces, or simply standing outside Jewish institutions in Toronto.”
The Israeli Embassy in Canada called on Carney’s government to take action against antisemitic attacks, offering both criticism and the offer of aid to address the issue.
“The Jews of Canada must be protected. Israel sees what Jewish Canadians are facing. Israel has warned against it, and Israel will continue to do so,” said the Israeli embassy.
“It is up to Canada – its leadership and its people – to do something about it.”