Belleville synagogue shooting a ‘hate-motivated attack,’ police say

The shooter who opened fire at an officer near a Belleville synagogue was engaged in a hate-motivated crime, police say.

In an update Thursday afternoon, Belleville police said the act was “deliberate” and targeted the Jewish community “during one of the holiest observances of the year.”

The attack happened Sunday evening during celebrations for Yom Kippur.

Police allege Sean Ward, a 29-year-old man from Quinte West, opened fire at Const. Jeff Smith who was stationed in front of the synagogue, “as part of his regular duties.”

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit confirmed Tuesday that Ward died in hospital Monday night. Smith remains in hospital in critical but stable condition.

“The suspect had the means, the motive, and the mechanisms to cause a mass casualty and the destruction of the Jewish synagogue,” Belleville Police Chief Murray Rodd said Thursday.

Police played a video recording from the area of the shooting Sunday in which the shooter appears to tell Smith, “You are going to die for the Jews.”

Approximately two dozen people were inside the synagogue at the time of the attack. No one inside was injured, police said.

“A line of decency of having an individual act in such a hateful and anti-Semitic attack is unacceptable,” Ontario Solicitor General Michael Kerzner said.

Kerzner said he has spent the last two days in Belleville meeting with the police force, the mayor and the community.

“It’s one thing to say hate has no place here in our province and in our country, but we already know that,” he said. “We have to go further and faster. We have to have a clarion call that there must be consequences for people that behave in this manner that do not subscribe to the values of who we are.”

Rodd said there is evidence that has been found that will corroborate the intent “in more detail,” but did not provide any specifics on what has been found.