Toronto Cop Killed During Search Linked to US Consulate Shooting

A Toronto police officer has been killed while carrying out a search warrant linked to an investigation into a shooting at the US consulate. Police Chief Myron Demkiw said 43-year-old Const. Marc Pinizzotto died after being shot Thursday morning during what officials described as a "high-risk takedown," the Toronto Star reports. Police said there was an exchange of gunfire at a high-rise building around 5:40am, reports the BBC.

The warrant was part of a broader probe into "a number of shootings," including the March attack on the consulate, Demkiw confirmed. Several warrants were executed across the city. One suspect wounded in the exchange of gunfire was hospitalized with injuries authorities described as life-threatening. Another, 19-year-old Zara Jabbi, remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous, police say. In the March 10 consulate shooting, which authorities described as a "national security incident," two people emerged from a vehicle around 4:30am and fired shots at the building, damaging the facade but causing no injuries, the AP reports.

Pinizzotto, an 18-year veteran of the force, had spent five years on the elite Emergency Task Force unit. "No words can capture the impact on Marc's family, who expected him to come home today," Demkiw said. Mayor Olivia Chow, who said she has known the officer's mother for more than two decades, called the news "heartbreaking" and said the city shares the family's grief. Sources tell CTV News that the officer, who played pro hockey in Europe before joining the Toronto police, was married and had 14-year-twins, a boy and a girl.