Police announce third suspect arrested over March synagogue shootings in GTA

York Regional Police announced on Monday that a third suspect has been arrested and charged after two synagogues in the Greater Toronto Area were targeted with gunfire in March of this year.

Chris Perreira, 23, faces a wide array of charges including reckless discharge of a firearm, possession of a loaded prohibited firearm, and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. The Barrie man is facing eight charges in total.

According to police, the Beth Avraham Yosef of Toronto synagogue in Thornhill was struck by gunfire shortly before midnight on March 6. Two individuals were inside the building at the time of the shooting but were luckily uninjured.

Only a few minutes later, in the early morning of March 7, authorities say a separate synagogue near Bathurst Street and Glencairn Avenue in Toronto was also targeted with gunfire. Toronto police found the building’s front entrance damaged by bullets.

York Regional Police and the Toronto Police Service previously announced in May that two suspects, both 17 at the time of the shootings, had been arrested and charged. Authorities charged the two teens with a total of 15 combined indictable offences in connection with the shootings.

Police say that while the investigation into the synagogue shootings remains ongoing, there are currently no outstanding suspects related to the incidents.

The case highlights the ongoing surge in antisemitic violence in Canada that has hit Toronto particularly hard. Despite Jews accounting for less than 4 per cent of the city’s population, anti-Jewish incidents accounted for 82 per cent of religiously motivated hate crimes in 2025, according to Toronto police. 

B’nai Brith Canada reports that violent incidents targeting Jews in 2026 have already more than doubled the total recorded for the entire previous year.