Toronto police say they have “no evidence” that the gunman behind Sunday’s deadly shooting rampage in Toronto was connected to ISIS after the group claimed responsibility for the attack on Wednesday.
A statement released by the Amaq news agency, the terror group’s propaganda arm, claims that Faisal Hussain, 29, who killed two people and injured 13 others before apparently turning the gun on himself, “was a soldier of the Islamic State.”
The statement in Arabic claims the Sunday evening attack in Toronto’s Greektown neighbourhood was carried out “in response to calls to target the citizens of the coalition countries,” a reference to Canada’s participation in the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said he has been regularly briefed on the investigation and his investigators have received assistance from law enforcement partners “at every level.”
“At this stage, we have no evidence to support these claims,” Saunders in a statement, adding that accurate information about the investigation will only be released by Toronto police.
“We will continue to explore every investigative avenue including interviewing those who knew Mr. Hussain, reviewing his online activity, and looking into his experiences with mental health,” Saunders said.
Police are seen around the scene of a shooting in east Toronto, on Monday, July 23, 2018. The parents of Faisal Hussain, whose shooting spree Sunday in Toronto’s Greektown left two people dead and 13 injured, say their son had struggled all his life with psychosis and depression. (Christopher Katsarov/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
As ISIS has lost ground and fighters in its campaigns in Syria and Iraq, it has made increasingly dubious claims of responsibility for attacks on foreign soil, often without any reliable evidence to support the assertion.
In comments to reporters, Toronto Mayor John Tory cautioned against drawing any conclusions from information circulating on social media.
“I would just like to stress that people should rely on the information that is going to be forthcoming over time, including today, from the Toronto Police Service about this,” he told reporters.
“They are the people who are in possession of the information that would lead to any conclusions or not about anybody involved in this.”
With files from CBC News
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