The One-Time 'Toronto The Good' has Disappeared into a Maisma of Criminality

"These individuals trafficked, and conspired to traffic, more than 100 firearms from Florida to Canada in 2023 and 2024."

"Of those firearms, 29 were recovered from Canadian crime scenes, including homicides."

U.S. Department of Justice press release 

 

"[The victim was] beaten and tortured by his assailants for several hours."

"After succeeding in obtaining from the victim the details required to enable a cryptocurrency transfer, the suspects fled."

Montreal law enforcement

Police investigating after early morning shooting near Polson Street and Cherry Street in Toronto on Sunday July 12, 2026 (CP24 photo)

 

Toronto Police on Sunday announced that 25-year-old Omar Abdul Singateh was charged with reckless discharge of a firearm in connection with a 3:30 a.m. shooting outside the Rebel nightclub where he opened fire on the nightclub crowd, then ran over pedestrians in a stolen ride-share vehicle. This is the same man who had been arrested in a torture investigation last year and had been freed on bail. 

 

The police report described a man opening fire on patrons leaving the nightclub, then hijacking a ride-share vehicle "that had customers on board". 

 

In his getaway attempt Singateh "struck pedestrians and vehicles" with the four passengers trapped in the car with him. This at a time when he was awaiting sentencing for a home invasion and extortion case of singular brutality. Singateh and two other men broke into the home of a Montreal-area cryptocurrency entrepreneur in 2024. They beat and tortured their victim, forcing him finally to surrender to them $15,000 in cryptocurrency. 

 

A remarkably violent weekend in Toronto has left communities on edge and anti-gun violence advocates calling for action. Still from video/CBC

 

Seven months ago Singateh was named in a U.S. indictment respecting a smuggling ring specializing in transferring over 100 illegal guns into Canada. Some of those guns are known to have been used in various incident of criminal activity. This, at a time when gun crimes in Toronto have been on a rapid increase; law enforcement crediting a surge of smuggled weapons entering Canada through the United States.

 

During a gang war outside a recording studio, 100 shots were fired. Of 16 distinct firearms used in the shootout, all had originally come from the U.S. Another charge against Singateh is that of "causing bodily harm" through dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, in addition to four counts of forcible confinement in reference to the ride-share passengers who were trapped in the vehicle that Singateh had hijacked in his escape bid following the chaotic gunfire at the Toronto Rebel nightclub. 

 

"Non-life-threatening" injuries were sustained by those whom Singateh shot, or hit with the escape vehicle, while Singateh himself sustained "gunshot injuries" during the shooting spree. Simultaneous to the Rebel nightclub event other high-profile public shootings occurred in Toronto over the weekend. One being a "targeted" shooting during the city's Salsa event at the St.Clair street festival. There, two people were shot dead and four injured after two gunmen fired at one another, forcing crowds to flee the festival. 

 

A fatal shooting at Salsa on St. Clair in midtown Toronto has raised questions about how to keep street festivals safe in the city. (CBC)

 

"The point is, the location is not the cause of the violence. Period. A simple venue change for public mass festivals is not going to address the gun violence problem."

"[Street festivals, with an open-air environment, are known as] soft targets [for criminal activity]." 

"Basically, we try the best we can to make things as safe as we can [there was lots of visible security at Saturday's festival]."

"The [amount] of adaptations to make a perfectly safe environment would change the entire street."

Jack Rozdilsky, associate professor of disaster and emergency management, York University