WARMINGTON: Toronto cop shot in robbery call could have resulted in another dead officer
· Toronto Sun
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This was as close as possible to there being the need for another cop funeral.
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In a year with so dark for cops, a Toronto Police officer is fortunate to still be alive after being shot while trying to stop a robbery.
Not only did he help stop the robbery, but he also contributed to the arrest of a suspect. And police located a firearm.
But that was close to being another police funeral in a city where anything can happen at any time.
This time it was at Bloor and Sherbourne Streets at 3:21 a.m. when police were called to the area. Toronto Police said in a post on X that they “responded to a robbery call in relation to a stolen e-bike” and “officers located the suspect” and “one officer was shot by the suspect and was transported to hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.”
“He’s OK,” said Toronto Police Association President Clayton Campbell.
But it’s not lost on Campbell, the officer being treated in hospital and the entire service how much worse this could have been.
Not long after Pinizzotto murder
It’s just weeks since the June 11th murder of Const. Marc Pinizzotto and many other close calls. If anybody thinks being a police officer is easy, just look at the stat sheet. And the reality of that job takes a toll on all of them.
In the last two days, Hamilton Police and Durham Regional Police have tragically lost members. Neither cause of death has been made public.
Officers on both services, and the neighbouring departments, are grieving because they understand the pressure that goes with the job in 2026.
One interesting aspect of the officer being shot at Bloor and Sherbourne is if it was the robbery suspect that had been on the receiving end of a bullet from police, the province’s Special Investigation’s Unit would be on the scene already and taken carriage of the probe.
But there’s no such investigation’s unit ever to look into the background of repeat offenders and their history into getting to this moment. It’s unclear at this point if this current suspect was known to police but in most shooting cases, the suspects are on release conditions of some kind and many times gun prohibitions.
But the people behind those releases are not held to the same standard as police officer’s are. Whether it be a judge, Justice of the Peace, parole board or the crown attorney and defence lawyers and their plea arrangements, there is not a robust follow up to ask, “why was this person released?” and “was it the right call?”
SIU investigates police, but no probes on why criminals are released?
Are the decisions that come out of these releases working for the community as a whole? Is there a public interest to make sure? People often blame police for the state of the crime on the streets but you can hardly blame law enforcement for someone they already arrested, committing a serious crime while under sentence.
This situation, like all the others, will be forgotten about in a few days and we will all move on to the next shooting or major crime and pretend that Toronto is a safe city. Remember just last week on Aug. 6th a Toronto officer shot and killed a driver in Mississauga wanted in a gun investigation . The officer was allegedly was defending himself, while another was allegedly injured.
That was close to being two more police officers killed on duty. They were lucky just like this officer was in this alleged e-bike robbery. These are treacherous times in general and especially for police officers.
“Our members often find themselves in dangerous and unpredictable situations,” Campbell said last week. “Police officers regularly place themselves in harm’s way to keep Toronto communities safe and ensure those who commit crimes are held accountable for their actions.”
That happened at Bloor and Sherbourne overnight. There is nothing routine about going out on shift in Toronto. You never know what can happen.
Look closer at what this easily could have been. This could have been another cop murdered in Toronto.