‘I’m at a breaking point’
A desperate man, a hostage and a phone call
It began with what seemed like any other tip called in to the Toronto Star’s 24-hour news desk.
But the man on the line — his voice steady, at times upset but never once raised — would soon reveal he had made a desperate move.
He was “at a breaking point.” He needed to be listened to. This is what it would take, he said.
Over the phone, a woman’s desperate screams could be heard — “I have family!” she cried.
It was clear this was unlike any other call to the newsroom.
What unfolded beginning at around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday was a daylight hostage-taking in an Eglinton West massage parlour tucked into an industrial area strip mall. Heavily armed members of Toronto police’s Emergency Task Force soon descended on the area, patrolling the area with guns and taking position on top of nearby buildings, according to witnesses.
The more than hour-long negotiation — beginning first with a call to the Star, and ending with a Toronto police negotiator — would end shortly after noon with the safe rescue of a woman who was being held inside Studio 9 massage parlour, and the arrest of a burly man dressed all in black.
Michael Storms, 35, was charged Wednesday with forcible confinement and uttering threats.
The man on the phone had told the Star he had converted to Islam when he was 20, and also went by the name Muhammed Islam. The caller said his motivations for the kidnapping were related to years of being surveilled and monitored by the RCMP, and that he was desperate for it to stop.
It was a day like any other at the Star, until the call came in. ‘I took a hostage. Are you listening?’
The RCMP did not return a request for comment to the Star by press time.
In a 2014 article in the National Post, a Toronto man identified as Muhammed Islam was named as one of approximately 90 high-risk travellers whose passports were seized to prevent them from travelling to take part in extremist violence abroad.
In a YouTube video posted in 2014, a man called Michael Storms identifies himself as Muhammed Islam and says he had a difficult childhood, grew up with family that were “very bad people” — “that was my upbringing, crime and violence, drugs.”
Throughout Wednesday’s incident, the man on the phone stressed that his actions were not motivated by terrorism and he staunchly did not support it. Below is an account of events on Wednesday, based on interviews with witnesses and police and a recording of more than an hour of the negotiations.
The incident began inside Studio 9 spa, when a regular who staff knew as Mike walked in. Immediately, he began by giving instructions to the receptionist: cover the massage parlour windows with paper and duct tape, which he brought in his bag.
According to a woman who identified herself as Nyla, who did not want her last name used, she and another woman working inside the parlour were told they could leave, but the man prevented one woman from leaving. Nyla said the man she knew as Mike then told them the situation had nothing to do with them, but he needed someone to listen to him.
Inside the Toronto Star newsroom, the phone rang in the Radio Room, the 24-hour news desk. Reporter Fakiha Baig took the call.
Baig thought it was another call alerting the Star to a story idea, and listened as the man began speaking about how he was being surveilled. Then she heard a woman shouting. “I could hear her crying in the background, saying something like ‘why are you doing this,’ and asking for help,” Baig said after the incident.
The caller, who identified himself as Michael, began telling Baig that he needed to do something drastic to be heard.
“I’ve needed help for a long time, OK? And nobody will listen. The only way to do this is to create a situation. A crisis, OK? Which is what I’m doing. So I took a hostage. Are you listening to me?”
“Yes, sir, where are you exactly?” asked Baig, who had begun recording the call.
Michael tells her exactly where he is, then goes on, insistent on explaining his motivations.
“This is being done out of desperation,” Michael says. “Because I don’t know what to do, right? Nobody will listen, nobody will help me, right?”
As more crying can be heard in the background, Baig realizes she needs to get someone else involved — “I’m not hanging up sir, can you give me one second?” she tells him.
Baig leaves, rushing through the newsroom to tell Star editor Jennifer Quinn what is going on.
Baig’s voice recorder, still running, then captures an exchange between Michael and a female voice, a woman he has been holding inside the parlour who he calls Hannah.
Quinn has meanwhile dialed 911 and learned that police have already been contacted about the hostage. Officers are on their way to the scene, she is told.
Overhearing the discussion about a hostage taking, Star editor Doug Cudmore offers to help. He joins Baig in the Radio Room, introduces himself to the caller, and begins what will become 45 minutes of conversation. Meanwhile, Star staff liaised with police to have an officer join Cudmore at the Star newsroom.
A police officer needed to come to the Star because Michael was open to speaking to one, but did not want to get off the phone with Cudmore and did not want to speak to an officer outside the massage parlour. In a calm and measured tone throughout, Cudmore reassures Michael that he’s listening, there to help and concerned for everyone’s safety.
“I’m a little bit upset. Like I said, no one will listen to me. And I’ve tried, many times, to get help. I’ve gone to the hospital, I’ve talked to them about what’s been going on,” Michael tells Cudmore.
Michael then notices that police are arriving outside — “the cops are pulling up right now,” he says.
“We just wanted to let them know, so nobody gets hurt. Do you have any weapons that they need to worry about?” Cudmore asks.
“I do have weapons, yep,” Michael responds.
“OK. Can you tell us what you have? Just because we don’t want anything to happen —,” Cudmore says.
“Listen, all you need to know is that I am armed,” Michael interrupts.
Police later said the man claimed to have scissors, but that did not appear to be the case and no weapons charge was laid.
On the phone, Michael instructs Cudmore to tell police not to approach. Cudmore attempts to keep the caller calm, reminding him that he’s going to help.
Cudmore invites Michael to tell him more about “what’s going on that’s making you feel this way.”
“It’s the police. It’s CSIS. OK?” Michael alleged that RCMP surveillance had resulted in him losing his job and not being able to get an apartment. He claims he has been on the national security watchlist for 15 years, being followed and monitored.
“I need people to know that I’ve been targeted because I’m Muslim, right . . . They want to tell me that I’m a terrorist, or potential terrorist. I don’t support terrorism or any of that stuff,” Michael says.
Staying calm, Cudmore remains on the phone with Michael, attempting to steer him towards topics that calm him. Michael, who occasionally starts to cry, occasionally tells the woman to stay close — “you know I’m not going to hurt you,” he tells her.
Michael tells Cudmore he can see police outside, via the massage parlour’s security cameras.
The police presence is also being noticed throughout the neighbourhood.
“I was outside when they came, I was doing some work and I saw a cop . . . just kind of tell me to get out of the way,” said Peter Mastrangelo, who works nearby at Premium Auto Sales Inc. Earlier, when he was arriving for work, he’d noticed that the parlour sign was not on, as usual, a white piece of paper was taped to the inside of the door saying it was temporarily closed.
On the phone, Michael says he is concerned about police coming in “guns blazing . . . I don’t want Hannah to get hurt, K? I don’t want to get hurt, do you understand?”
“I’m going to stay with you on the phone until there’s a cop here with me, does that work?” Cudmore asks.
Then, a few minutes later, Cudmore gives an update.
“They just told me that the police are on their way here to chat with you on the phone, so it’ll just be a minute or two until we can get them talking,” Cudmore says. “It looks like we’ve just had a police officer come in the newsroom here. Would you like him to come in and join?”
Michael says yes, and Toronto police Sgt. Sean Thrush soon joins the conversation for what will become 25 minutes, before ultimately directing Michael to place a call to an ETF officer stationed outside the parlour.
Thrush tells Michael that he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt.
“So you need to understand, I’m at the Toronto Star building right now, so I can’t see what you can see so I understand you’re telling me that there’s officers right now at the building?”
“Yeah, they’re uh, they’re creeping around, I can see them on camera, right?” Michael responds.
In a calm voice, Thrush tells Michael he is hearing his concerns.
“Obviously you want some help, and I want to give you that help, but I need to know what it is I can do for you,” Thrush says.
“Look man, I don’t know. When I say I need help, I need help, right? And jail’s not going to help me, even though I know I’m going there,” Michael says. Thrush asks if he has weapons. Thrush continues talking calmly, soon telling him he needs to contact a Toronto police sergeant who is on the scene, just outside the massage parlour, to continue the conversation.
“So we’ll disconnect now, I’ll call him right now,” Michael says.
“OK, thank you Michael,” Thrush responds. “OK. See ya,” Michael says. The call ends around noon. Toronto police spokesperson Const. Victor Kwong tweeted soon after that a rapport had been built with the man in crisis, that he had been apprehended, and that no one inside the massage parlour had been injured.
“This was part Toronto Star — the person who dealt with the call — part the officers who attended Toronto Star and then part the negotiators who ended up showing up from Emergency Task Force,” Kwong said in an interview Wednesday.
“We can’t pin this on one person’s help throughout the day. This one was a multitude of different people doing things well.”