Man arrested after threatening to shoot Toronto mayoral candidates, police say

Toronto police have arrest‐ ed a man who allegedly threatened to shoot may‐ oral candidates on Thurs‐ day.

The alleged gun threat was followed by the cancellation of a Toronto mayoral debate on Thursday night. Multiple candidates had pulled out of the event by the time the event was cancelled.

Police say the man is now in custody and that more in‐ formation will be released on Friday morning.

Earlier on Thursday, three mayoral hopefuls indicated their public campaign activi‐ ties were disrupted after they learned of the threats.

On Thursday morning, Toronto police responded to a call in East York, where a man allegedly made the threats. No candidates were present at the time and the location was unrelated any candidate appearances, police said.

"The suspect made threat‐ ening remarks about shoot‐ ing mayoral candidates and showed what appeared to be a firearm," Const. Alex Li, spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service said Thursday evening.

Li said the threats were made against "unnamed" mayoral candidates and de‐ scribed them as a "blanket threat."

Police are also looking into an online threat believed to be made by the same person, he said.

Police had said the man was wanted for allegedly threatening bodily harm, car‐ rying a concealed weapon and possession of a danger‐ ous weapon.

Candidates speak out af‐ ter threat

Candidates Ana Bailão, Brad Bradford, Chloe Brown, Olivia Chow, Josh Matlow and Mitzie Hunter were scheduled to face off in a debate at OCAD University on Thursday night.

But hours before the scheduled debate, the univer‐ sity tweeted it had been can‐ celled. No reason was provid‐ ed.

Police said they had not advised candidates to cancel any appearances, but would be present at the debate.

On Thursday afternoon, Josh Matlow announced he would not attend the debate and he said in a tweet that his campaign office will be closed until the suspect was caught. Matlow said he closed his campaign office temporarily.

"It's awful and it's very sad that this is happening in the midst of a really important campaign and a really impor‐ tant election that affects the future of our city," Matlow said.

Mark Saunders also said he wouldn't attend the de‐ bate, according to his spokesperson. Saunders said in an interview later that he was told by police that they planned to call all 102 candi‐ dates.

"As former police chief, I had to deal with situations like this in the past. But in that capacity, you have access to the tools and skilled inves‐ tigators and the skill teams and resources necessary to really create the best plan. Under this circumstance I I don't have those privileges or accesses anymore. But my bigger concern really is for my staff."

And Brad Bradford an‐ nounced in a tweet that he would pause public events until the suspect was appre‐ hended.

"It's disappointing that this is happening, doesn't feel good, but at the end of the day, we've had lots of de‐ bates. There will be more to go in the future and there's plenty of time left in this elec‐ tion. Right now, the priority has to be safety," Bradford said.

Olivia Chow, for her part, said in a statement that she was made aware of the verbal threat made against candi‐ dates earlier on Thursday.

"Moments like these can be unsettling for people in‐ volved in the election. Like you, we are still learning more and I want to assure you that my family, my campaign team and volunteers are safe," Chow said in the statement.

Mitzie Hunter said in a statement that she would be suspending her campaign ac‐ tivities for the rest of the day out of an abundance of cau‐ tion for volunteers and mem‐ bers of the public. She said she will reassess campaign events on Friday.

"It would have been cer‐ tainly a wonderful opportuni‐ ty to connect with people and to speak about the issues of importance in this mayoral‐ ty election. And that's where my mind was. But when a threat is made on safety, everything stops because there's nothing more impor‐ tant than public safety and in‐ dividual safety," she said.

Ana Bailão said she plans to continue all of her cam‐ paign activities and that she will not be intimidated.

"I want to be extremely clear that no threat or intimi‐ dation of any kind will ever stop me from taking part in the democratic process and working to represent Toronto residents as their May‐ or," Bailão said in a statement.

"Threats against any elect‐ ed officials or those seeking election are totally unaccept‐ able."

Chloe Brown, another can‐ didate, said in a text that she had "no intention" of can‐ celling public appearances and doesn't believe the threats were directed at her or her team. Brown said she had been allowed to take part in the debate.

"I wish I could debate. I've been frozen out of debates for the last couple of weeks, so this would have been my first opportunity to have been at a large debate with 60 residents associations and someone decided to ruin that," Brown said. "You're go‐ ing to stop doing politics any‐ time someone threatens you?"

Brown said she doesn't have the luxury of shutting down her campaign.

"I still have to go out, still have to do my own flyering, be seen, because I don't have the luxury of a machine be‐ hind me."

Don Young, co-chair of the event steering committee, said organizers were prepared for a demonstration outside of the debate, but not the threat reported by police.

Thursday's debate was coorganized by the North Toronto Residents' Associa‐ tion and the Federation of South Toronto Residents' As‐ sociation.

"It is a gut punch to the 14 to 18 individuals who have been planning this since the beginning of April," Young said.