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Ontario’s police watchdog says 29-year-old Sean Ward, the man accused of shooting at city police near a Belleville, Ont., synagogue on Sunday night, has died.
Yom Kippur services were underway inside the Sons of Jacob Synagogue when Ward allegedly opened fire on Const. Jeff Smith with a shotgun, Belleville police Deputy Chief Sheri Meeks and Kristy Denette, a spokesperson for Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), said during a Monday news conference.
The ensuing gunfire left dozens of bullet holes in nearby homes, vehicles and one of the synagogue’s street-facing stained-glass windows, Denette said.
A second Belleville police officer also fired their weapon.
Ward, from neighbouring Quinte West, had been in life-threatening condition. A spokesperson for the SIU said he died in a hospital in Kingston on Monday night.
Ottawa police have posted officers near local synagogues and Belleville residents held a vigil after a shooting outside a synagogue there on Sunday night. The CBC’s Guy Quenneville reports.
A spokesperson for the Department of National Defence said Tuesday that Ward joined the Canadian Armed Forces in July 2017, that he served as an infantry soldier with Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry and was a corporal when he was released in June 2022 without having been deployed.
Smith had been parked outside Sons of Jacob in an unmarked police car at the request of the synagogue, its president told CBC News. He suffered serious injuries during the shootout and was recovering in an intensive care unit. The SIU said Tuesday he remains in stable condition.
Yom Kippur, one of the most sacred days of the Jewish calendar, began at sundown on Sunday.
Investigators say a 29-year-old man armed with a shotgun opened fire on an officer outside a synagogue in Belleville, Ont., as 25 people gathered for Yom Kippur. Up to 30 rounds were exchanged, sending worshipers scrambling for cover.
It’s unclear if the shooting was targeting Smith, Sons of Jacob or the city’s Jewish community. An SIU spokesperson said Belleville police would be looking into Ward’s motives.
Meeks said Belleville police won’t be providing any more updates on their own investigation of the incident while the SIU performs a parallel, narrowly focused investigation into the circumstances that prompted Smith and the other unnamed officer to fire their weapons.
