Police across the Greater Toronto Area are increasing patrols around Jewish institutions after gunfire struck two shuls late Friday night, marking the third such attack in less than a week.

Shots were fired at shuls in North York and Vaughan just before midnight, damaging buildings but leaving no injuries. The incidents came only days after a Reform temple in North York was targeted in a similar shooting earlier in the week.

Toronto police said officers were called shortly after midnight to the Shaarei Shamayim shul near Bathurst Street and Glencairn Avenue. When they arrived, they found bullet holes in the front door of the building.

“No injuries were reported,” Toronto police spokesperson Shannon Eames said, though the discovery of gunfire damage triggered an immediate investigation.

Around the same time Friday night, York Regional Police responded to another shooting at Bais Avraham Yosef near Clark Avenue and Thornhill Boulevard in Vaughan. Deputy Chief Kevin McCloskey said suspects in a dark sedan drove past the building and opened fire.

Two people were inside the shul at the time, but neither was injured.

“This type of hate, this type of behaviour is quite despicable,” McCloskey said at a Saturday news conference, visibly angered by the attack. “Hate and bigotry has no place in York Region, no place in Ontario and no place in Canada.”

Investigators are now working to determine whether the shootings are connected. So far, officials say there is no confirmed link between the attacks, though the timing and targets suggest they are.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)