Suspect shot after stabbing Toronto officer now charged with attempted murder: police

April 15, 2024 Canuck

Toronto police say a 27-year-old man who was shot after stabbing a police officer in Toronto’s west end last week is facing a number of charges, including attempted murder.

The altercation occurred at around 1:30 p.m. in the parking lot of a plaza in the area of College Street and Lansdowne Avenue.

A spokesperson for the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) previously said that Toronto police were first called to the area for reports of a person in crisis.

Officers located the man outside a Tim Hortons at a plaza near the intersection and attempted to apprehend him under the Mental Health Act, the SIU said.

According to the province’s police watchdog, some type of a struggle ensued between the man and two responding officers and Tasers were unsuccessfully deployed.

During the struggle, the SIU said, the man pulled out a knife and stabbed one of the officers. The injured officer shot the man one time, the SIU spokesperson told reporters Friday.

Toronto Police alongside Paramedics and Firefighters work the scene where a police officer was stabbed and a suspect shot in Toronto on Friday, April 12, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey

The wounded officer and the man were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

On Monday, police told CP24 that a suspect, identified as 27-year-old Gabriel Escairo, has now been charged in connection with the stabbing.

He faces two counts of assaulting a peace officer, two counts of attempted murder, one count of aggravated assault involving a peace officer, four counts of failing to comply with a release order, and one count of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, police said.

The incident occurred just days after Toronto police said two officers were injured in separate assaults in the city on Tuesday night. One of the officers sustained serious injuries to his leg and had to undergo surgery, the Toronto Police Association (TPA) told CP24 earlier this week.

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