A police officer was killed on Thursday in Toronto during an investigation into a March shooting at the city’s United States consulate, the authorities said.
The shooting happened at around 5:45 a.m. on Thursday, the police said, after tactical officers who specialize in high-risk situations arrived at an apartment building in north Toronto to execute a search warrant.
The police said that officers were shot at by someone in the building, and that they fired back. An officer, Const. Marc Pinizzotto, 43, and one other person, a suspect, were shot and taken to a hospital, the police said.
A 19-year-old man, identified as Zara Jabbi, evaded police during the raid and is believed to be armed and at large, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw told reporters at a news conference on Thursday morning outside of the hospital where the officer died.
“No words can capture the impact on Marc’s family who expected him to come home today,” Chief Demkiw said.
“There’s a very heavy sorrow in our community right now,” he added, taking a moment to collect himself.
Pete Hoekstra, the United States ambassador to Canada, offered his condolences during a speech on Thursday morning at a major conference on U.S.-Canada relations in Toronto.
“Our thoughts, our prayers are with the family of the police person who was killed,” Mr. Hoekstra said.
The shooting at the consulate took place on March 10. Two men drove by the consulate in downtown Toronto at around 4:30 a.m., got out of a white Honda CR-V and fired multiple shots at the building with a single handgun, according to the Toronto Police Service. No one was injured in that incident.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
