GTA

ISIS claims responsibility for Danforth mass shooting but offers no evidence

ISIS has claimed responsibility for a mass shooting on Danforth Avenue on Sunday, though they have not provided any evidence or support for the unsubstantiated claim.

Reuters reported on Wednesday morning that ISIS claimed responsibility for the incident in a statement released by its AMAQ news agency, which referred to the gunman as “a soldier of the Islamic State” who “carried out the attack in response to calls to target the citizens of the coalition countries.”

It should be noted that ISIS regularly claims responsibility for attacks carried out in the West but those attacks are not always found to be inspired or directed by the terrorist organization.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the Las Vegas massacre in September through the AMAQ news agency but law enforcement officials in the U.S. have repeatedly dismissed any link between that attack and international terrorism.

Last June, ISIS also claimed responsibility after a masked gunman set a deadly fire inside the Resorts World Manila casino and hotel complex in the Philippines but law enforcement officials there have insisted that the attack was the work of a mentally ill man and was not an act of terrorism.

Police in Toronto have not yet commented on the claim from ISIS regarding Sunday’s mass shooting.

“They say one of our soldiers but what does that even mean,” former Ontario Provincial Police commissioner Chris Lewis told CP24 on Wednesday morning. “I am Roman Catholic so I might by a soldier of the Roman Catholic religion. It is really tough to understand. I think the main focus for us in the city and the society is that bad things happen from bad people at times. What their motivation is doesn’t take away from the fact that young people are dead and other people are hurt.”

Gunman wasn’t on any federal watchlists

The province’s police watchdog has previously identified the shooter in Sunday’s shooting as 29-year-old Faisal Hussain though a motive remains unclear.

In a statement released on Monday, Hussain’s family said that he struggled with “severe mental health challenges” and “psychosis.”

On Tuesday, Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale also told reporters that Hussain was not on any federal watchlists.

“As far as we’re aware at this stage based on the state of the investigation, which by the way is led by the Toronto Police Service, there is no connection between that individual and national security,” he said.

Police are continuing to look into Hussain’s past and are working to determine what may have prompted him to commit Sunday’s massacre.

As part of the overarching investigation, police are also working to determine the provenance of the semi-automatic handgun that was used in the attack.

According to one police source, investigators believe that the suspect did not have a licence to possess the gun and that it was obtained illegally from a “gang-related” source in the city. The police source says that investigators believe the gun originated in the U.S. and that investigators are working with officials there to determine how it ended up in Canada.

Sunday’s massacre left an 18-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl dead and 13 others injured.

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