r/canadaguns • u/glassboxecology • Jul 12 '26
News / Politics / Activism Surprise surprise, suspect in Toronto festival shooting has previous charges smuggling illegal firearms from US to Canada
EDIT: I realize now through some of the commenters (thank you) that this suspect was NOT a suspect in the festival shooting, but rather a different shooting that same night in Toronto. I apologize for mis-tagging this idiot to the festival shooting, but my points below still stand. Different shooting, but still an idiot, still a failure of our legislative structure around legal and illegal firearms.
Press release from Toronto Police on Omar Abdul Singateh: https://www.tps.ca/media-centre/news-releases/66411/
Also arrested in 2025 in Montreal on kidnapping, robbery, and crypto theft: https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/3-men-facing-kidnapping-robbery-and-other-charges-in-crypto-theft-montreal-police/
Also arrested in 2025 on firearms trafficking (out of 100 illegal firearms trafficked, 29 of them were recovered in Canadian crime scenes): https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/two-men-arrested-international-firearms-trafficking-conspiracy
Emailed the below to my MP, feel free to do the same:
Subject: URGENT: The Failure of Current Firearms Policies and the Need for Mandatory Minimums
Dear [Insert MP Name],
I am writing to you today to express my sheer disgust and profound frustration with the current state of our justice system and the misdirected firearms policies enforced by this government. The recent shooting and subsequent arrest at Polson and Cherry Street in Toronto on July 12 is a glaring example of how current legislation completely fails to protect Canadians, while simultaneously punishing law-abiding citizens.
The suspect in this shooting, Omar Abdul Singateh, is not a legal, vetted firearms owner. He is a known, violent criminal with a disturbing track record that the justice system repeatedly failed to address. Based on public reports and press releases, this individual was already known for:
- International Firearms Trafficking: He was previously arrested in connection with trafficking 100 illegal firearms into the country—29 of which have been recovered at Canadian crime scenes.
- Violent Kidnapping & Robbery: He was arrested in connection with a violent breaking and entering, forcible confinement, and cryptocurrency robbery in Montreal.
- The Recent Toronto Shooting: Despite his severe criminal history, he was out on our streets, where he recklessly exchanged gunfire, stole a rideshare vehicle, and struck pedestrians while fleeing the scene.
It is completely unacceptable that an individual with a history of smuggling illegal weapons and violent kidnapping was free to terrorize the streets of Toronto.
While repeat offenders and illegal firearms traffickers are met with a revolving door justice system, this government insists on pouring resources into arbitrary Order in Council (OIC) bans that strictly target legally licensed, heavily vetted, and law-abiding firearms owners. Legal gun owners are not the ones shooting up our streets, yet we are the ones bearing the brunt of the government's "public safety" measures. It is entirely unfair and ineffective to penalize citizens who follow the law while actual threats are repeatedly let out on bail or handed lenient sentences.
Canadians deserve real public safety, not political theater. Therefore, I am urging you, as my elected representative, to push for the following immediate actions:
- Reverse the OIC Bans: Stop the arbitrary and unfair targeting of legal firearms owners. These bans do nothing to take illegal guns out of the hands of violent criminals.
- Introduce Mandatory Minimum Sentencing: Champion immediate legislation that imposes harsh, mandatory minimum sentences for criminals convicted of smuggling and trafficking illegal weapons into Canada.
Our streets are becoming more dangerous because the government is focusing on the wrong target. We need laws that keep violent, repeat offenders and illegal gun runners behind bars.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this urgent matter and learning what actionable steps you will take in Parliament to address the real source of gun violence in our country.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[Your Phone Number]
[Your Email]
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u/rastamasta45 Jul 12 '26
I absolutely love how Poly stays silent over these things. Human life is worthless to their ideology
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u/rastamasta45 Jul 12 '26
Woah woah, he wasn’t a licensed gun owner???? Are you telling me Poly and the LPC are lying to me?? That’s not possible, Christ, I mean Careny is a genius!
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u/Playful_Violinist_53 Jul 13 '26
No one ever said it's licensed gun owners going on shooting sprees. This one was not the festival shooting though.
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u/Gloomy-Grocery6562 Jul 12 '26
"Omar Abdul Singateh, 25, of Brampton"
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u/Careless_Ad_21 Jul 12 '26
I don't know if I can ever tell you enough, how frigging awesome this is! 😂😂😂
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Jul 12 '26
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u/canadaguns-ModTeam Jul 12 '26
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u/hkhunkhun Jul 12 '26
Actual statistics show West and South Asians are underrepresented in the prison population vis-a-vis their overall population in Canada. Nice try though.
https://www.canada.ca/en/correctional-service/corporate/library/research/glance/446p.html
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u/h3IIfir3pho3nix N E R F G U N S Jul 12 '26
"Arab/West Asian men were found to be the fastest growing offender group, increasing by 76% over the study period."
From your own article.
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u/Natural_Comparison21 Jul 12 '26
Almost like we are not properly vetting people and organized crime are bringing in people to do there dirty work for them.
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u/hkhunkhun Jul 13 '26
And yet still more underrepresented in crime per capita than white people. Pot calls the kettle black
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u/SlowDebate3165 Jul 14 '26
lol the massive cope ya'll have against literal facts and numbers is hilarious.
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u/hkhunkhun Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Except the number show that whites have a higher per capita crime rate. It’s you who is denying literal facts. Even the guy who replied to me originally, he cherry picked and literally skipped over the part right after where it said “South Asian, Chinese, Filipino, and Arab/West Asian men were underrepresented in the federal offender population.”
https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/ccrso-2019/ccrso-2019-en.pdf
Pg 66 there shows offenders by race.
By comparing those numbers with the general population of those races in Canada South Asians offend at a rate of 0.07x the national average while West Asians and White people are at 0.55x and 0.77x respectively. White people are the 3rd highest offenders only after indigenous and black people. They offend at a rate 10x higher than South Asians and 1.4x higher than West Asians.
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u/hockeyfanatic777 Jul 12 '26
I sent one to my MP.
I also added this to mine:
This example was in Toronto, but it applies everywhere. Ontario is a big problem, with many criminals smuggling guns from the US. Those are the majority of weapons used in violent crimes.
Are we going to ban knives because of all the stabbing in Winnipeg, Thompson, The Pas?
What about hammers? Jerry Kipling was convicted in 2021 for an assault on a teenager in Winnipeg in 2020, where he lodged the claw part of the hammer into the boys skull and brain. He now has life altering issues because of this. Will we ban hammers next?
What about pencils? The same man, Jerry Kipling, stabbed an inmate in jail with a pencil. Will we ban pencils too?
The problems aren’t the tools.. it’s those who misuse them or have violent intentions. Firearm owners already get vetted and are under a watchful eye for these dangerous circumstances.
We are not the problem.
Criminals are.
____________________
Not as well written as yours, my thoughts are pretty disorganized lol but thought I’d add some Manitoba flair to it
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u/CapnFuntime Jul 12 '26
Stabbings are why you cant buy a machete in Manitoba anymore. Cause you know that'll stop the criminals 🤷♂️
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u/imnotm3h Jul 14 '26
Guess I better get some machetes before the Ontario ban… that way I can still use them at my local machete range
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u/CapnFuntime Jul 14 '26
If you dont you'll have to snuggle them in from the next province over like me 🤣🤣
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u/Big-Guitar-1979 Jul 12 '26
Meantime, Poly is still bitching on Twitter. Imagine she spends whole life fighting the legal gun owners. What a joke
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u/LegalPusher Jul 12 '26
But fighting gun smugglers might actually make a difference, and then she'd be out of a job.
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u/StalkerRigo Jul 12 '26
Watch r/onretardeforthee not say a word about it because its not le cool narrative
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u/Low-HangingFruit Jul 12 '26
Amazing how fast this dropped off the front of CBCs top story once the arrest was announced.
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u/itsagrapefruit Jul 12 '26
We might be at the point where anyone with a main address in Brampton shouldn’t have a pal.
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u/Mdaumer Jul 12 '26
Our fucking country is a joke, allowing these pieces of shit to roam the streets terrorizing us, with zero consequences.
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u/Enough_Challenge7264 Jul 12 '26
...and where did this little sh1thead come from, who sponsored him, and how do we get them all out of this sh1thole country!?
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u/casa_del_porno Jul 12 '26
He didn’t learn from his previous mistakes but I am sure this time will be different, dude appears to be remorseful. - probably what the judge will say when he is found guilty and given a sentence of time served, probation and prohibited to own legal firearms…
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u/BigDaddyReaper Jul 12 '26
Sure wish the press/police would release mug shots like they do down south. Since they are going to release them anyway, it would be nice to know who to look out for.
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u/64Olds Jul 12 '26
How could this law-abiding licensed gun owner do this? Better issue another OIC.
/s
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u/yummybunnybear Jul 12 '26
The only time you'll hear "mandatory" in the criminal justice system is when they go after legal firearm owners (sorry Gary, the confiscation is not voluntary)
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u/orange1690 Jul 12 '26
Ya know what the answer is right? Ban another legal firearm. That'll fix it.
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u/Ijustwanttobuyshiny Jul 13 '26
Just correcting your title so everyone has accurate info, **this is not a suspect in the recent festival shooting on st claire**
This person was arrested for a completely unrelated shooting that took place this morning and has nothing to do with the yesterday’s high profile festival shooting.
As for the letter… We need gun law changes for us, the public to protect our rights to own firearms. Keep that as the issue, don’t combine it with a call for mandatory minimums. Doing so obscures the issue , which is fighting for OUR rights as gun owners, not our rights plus mandatory minimums.
Let’s stick to our lane and keep this directly focused on what we want for ourselves as gun owners and that alone. Co-opting a call for harsher penalties against offenders just isn’t productive in terms of stating what we demand and having it be heard clearly enough to get a politician to work.
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Jul 12 '26
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u/canadaguns-ModTeam Aug 05 '26
In accordance with the subreddit rules, your post/comment has been removed for the following reason:
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u/GrandmaFUPA Jul 13 '26
Just FYI that's not the festival shooting, but a different one that happened last night
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u/OpeningElderberry845 Jul 13 '26
But hunters and natives are the problem!!! Take their guns away!!!!
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u/No-Art-3033 Jul 13 '26
you are posting fake news ... that is the rebel shooting ... am not disagreein with teh comments though
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Jul 13 '26
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u/canadaguns-ModTeam Jul 13 '26
In accordance with the subreddit rules, your post/comment has been removed for the following reason:
[1] Disrespectful/Insulting or Hateful Comments
Civility, courtesy, and politeness, is expected within this subreddit. A post or comment may be removed if it's considered in violation of Reddit's RULES, Reddiquette, and User Agreement.
Using negative generalizations on persons based upon their backgrounds, ethnicity, gender, or appearance is subject to comment removal and a possible ban from the subreddit. Keep comments directed at actions, not at individuals.
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u/Tomato13 onTerrible Jul 12 '26
Don't worry the judge will make sure the jail time isn't too punitive for his mental health