TORONTO — A Belleville police officer hired to guard Yom Kippur services is in ICU after a gunfight Sunday night outside Sons of Jacob synagogue, and Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit is running the file.The SIU said an officer near Bleecker Ave. and Victoria Ave. saw a 29-year-old man with a rifle about 7 p.m., and that an exchange of gunfire wounded both men. The officer is in critical-stable condition. The suspect is in life-threatening condition. About 25 worshippers were inside. No one in the building was hit.Chief Murray Rodd told Quinte News the officer is in intensive care with his family, and that neighbouring services are covering shifts. Congregation president Norm Weddum told CBC News the officer had been stationed outside the building in an unmarked car — the same paid-duty model GTA synagogues have used at roughly $1,000 a day because Canadian law bars private armed guards in houses of worship.Weddum said he was ushering people in when he heard “boom, boom, boom,” shut the auditorium doors so there was no visible target, and put everyone on the floor. About 20 holes later marked the stained glass. “He was at the synagogue, in front of it, targeting us,” he said. “You’re not walking down Victoria Ave. on a Sunday stroll carrying a rifle.”Police have not called it a hate crime. Mayor Neil Ellis said it is still unclear whether the synagogue was the target, and that Belleville has “zero tolerance for acts of violence motivated by hate.” Spokesperson Lauren Wilkinson said rumours of a second shooter are inaccurate..The SIU has assigned four investigators and two forensic investigators and was to brief from the scene at 11 a.m. Belleville police said they cannot comment while the watchdog has the mandate. The armoured Community Safety Vehicle sat on the taped-off street, and the rest of Yom Kippur was cancelled.Premier Doug Ford said he was “disgusted,” that Jewish Ontarians have every right to worship without fear, and that those responsible should be prosecuted. Bay of Quinte MPP Tyler Allsopp called the officer a hero whose actions saved lives. Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote that Ottawa will “do everything in our power to support law enforcement” in holding the perpetrator accountable.Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said Jewish residents “should not need police presence to observe Yom Kippur” and that the city will “spare no expense” on security. Toronto and York police added patrols at synagogues and said they had no known threat tied to Belleville..After March shootings that scarred synagogue doors in Vaughan and Toronto, Ottawa topped up the Canada Community Security Program and congregations doubled security budgets, some toward $400,000–$500,000 a year. Small-city shuls still buy a cop for the High Holidays.Weddum said the congregation will resume services when police release the building. “We will carry on.”Neither the officer nor the shooter has been named.
