Police search for two suspects after U.S. consulate in Toronto hit by gunfire

TORONTO – The shooting at the United States consulate in Toronto on Tuesday was condemned by Canadian officials as an act of intimidation as police searched for two suspects they say opened fire on the building. 

No injuries were reported after police say two people pulled up in front of the downtown consulate in a white Honda CR-V around 4:30 a.m. and shot at the building with a handgun before fleeing the scene.

The shooting was only reported about an hour later and it’s possible the people inside the heavily fortified building at the time were unaware of what had taken place, police told a news conference. 

Police said it was too early to say whether the shooting was connected to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran but say security would be increased at Israeli and American embassies and consulates in both Toronto and Ottawa. 

The shooting is being treated as a “national security incident,” Chief Supt. Chris Leather with Ontario RCMP said, and the Mounties’ Integrated National Security Enforcement Team is involved in the investigation.

“I think it’s fairly obvious based on the incidents that have occurred here in Toronto and elsewhere that these consulates deserve a heightened amount of vigilance at this time, in hopes we can take the temperature down in the coming days and weeks,” he said.

Leather said there was “no indication of an immediate threat to public safety.” 

Evidence markers were visible Tuesday morning outside the consulate as officers surveyed the scene at University Avenue and Queen Street West. Investigators pointed at what appeared to be a bullet-sized dent on the door and a police officer photographed an impact mark on an exterior stone wall. A police forensic identification van was parked nearby. 

Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the shooting an unacceptable act of violence and intimidation. He also denounced the shootings at two Toronto-area synagogues last week. 

“I have all the confidence in the world that they’re going to catch these criminals and they’re going to be accountable, and they are going to face the full extent of the law,” he said at an unrelated news conference. 

Prime Minister Mark Carney said the shots fired at the consulate were “a reprehensible act of violence” and expressed relief that no one was injured.  

“The RCMP and federal agencies will devote all needed resources to support the Toronto Police Service in their investigation, and to ensure that the perpetrators of these violent acts are identified and brought to the full weight of justice,” Carney wrote in a social media post. 

He noted that the federal government’s Incident Response Group met this weekend to review potential changes to “the threat landscape” in Canada and discuss ways to improve domestic security. 

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra wrote in a social media post that his team is in close contact with Toronto police and Canadian authorities, “and we have full confidence in their investigation.”

Hoekstra said the attack on the consulate is “deeply” troubling.

“Our work continues, we will not be intimidated,” he wrote.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2026.