A search for a 19-year-old man wanted for firing shots at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto ended after he was arrested at the city’s major airport, the authorities said on Thursday.
The man, Zara Jabbi, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with firearm possession, car theft and attacking a consulate, the police said.
The authorities said the man was one of several people recently contacted via encrypted messaging apps and paid to carry out the attacks.
Mr. Jabbi was one of two people wanted for shooting at the U.S. Consulate building in downtown Toronto on March 10.
He was arrested after arriving at Toronto Pearson International airport, his lawyer, Kofi Achampong, told a court on Thursday.
Mr. Jabbi and another young man, Sheldon Tracey-Stewart, 18, shared the same gun and took turns firing rounds at the consulate, the authorities said. Security footage from the consulate building showed the shooters filming themselves on their cellphones, the police said.
Mr. Tracey-Stewart was arrested and found with a loaded firearm on June 11, during a raid at an apartment building in Toronto.
The raids, led by police units specialized in high-risk operations, precipitated a shootout that killed one officer, Const. Marc Pinizzotto, 43. The man charged with his murder, Nicholas Bennett, 19, was critically injured during the shootout and remains unconscious at a Toronto hospital.
The shooters, according to the police, were believed to be part of a guns-for-hire network that recruits young people using encrypted applications including Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp.
“In order to get paid, they’re required to film their attacks,” Chief Myron Demkiw of the Toronto Police told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday. “Who is paying for this? This is what we are trying to determine.”
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