3 charged with attempted murder in wake of Piper Arms mass shooting
Investigators say arrests linked to 'other violent incidents that occurred in the spring of 2025'
Three men are facing a swath of charges — including multiple counts of attempted murder — linked to a brazen shooting at the Piper Arms Pub in Scarborough where a dozen people were hurt back in March.
Those charges are part of a larger investigation where 10 arrests have been made in connection with five separate shooting incidents, a robbery and a stolen vehicle investigation from in and around the Greater Toronto Area in recent months, Toronto police investigators said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Patrons at the pub, which is located near Scarborough Town Centre, were celebrating the business's opening night on March 7 when three masked men walked in and opened fire, according to police. The suspects then took off.
No one was killed, but 12 people were hurt. Investigators showed snippets from security camera footage Wednesday pulled from the night of the shooting, in which gunmen can be seen bursting through a door and firing, seemingly indiscriminately.
Nine people were shot amidst the chaos, police Chief Myron Demkiw said.
"No one was killed, which is truly a miracle," Demkiw said.
"This kind of brazen violence, this disregard for human life, is completely unacceptable."
Supt. Paul MacIntyre told reporters at the news conference that one victim was shot six times and survived.
"Their strength and resilience has been remarkable," he said.
Dozens of charges laid
Police say Torontonians Sheldon Gordon, 19, Juevar Griffith, also 19, and Kayjean Morrison, 22, all now face charges linked to the incident, including multiple counts of attempted murder, alongside a host of firearms charges.
Coun. Michael Thompson, who represents the ward where the shooting took place, said he has been speaking with victims who are very happy that arrests have been made.
"Some of them, as you can imagine, have been having difficulty sleeping given the fact that those individuals who brought this carnage and this challenge to the community were still out and had not been apprehended," Thompson said. "So they're extremely encouraged."
MacIntyre, however, told CBC Radio's Metro Morning Thursday that a lot of the victims aren't doing well.
"To be quite frank, it was a horrific incident. They were shot in their arms, in their legs, their hips, their knees, their elbows — and while we often say in the media … the injuries aren't life threatening, they certainly are life altering," he said.
"Bullet wounds to your knees, and to your elbows, and to your legs, I mean these are injuries that will really affect you for a lifetime. And psychologically, I mean you're sitting inside a restaurant or a pub and suddenly you're shot — I mean that is something that's going to have an effect on you for the rest of your life."
Police say that all told, 10 people have been arrested in connection with several incidents linked to their overarching investigation, with 203 charges laid and four guns seized. One suspect is still at large, investigators say.
Though MacIntyre referred to the accuseds in these incidents as a network of individuals who were committing crimes, he said police do not consider them to be a gang in a formal sense as they lack elements like colours or emblems.
Instead, this overarching group was more like associates who worked as hired shooters, he said.
"This is really just a bunch of guys," MacIntyre said.
Though some of these incidents appear to be linked to ongoing violence surrounding the region's tow truck industry, police say the Piper Arms shooting has not yet been connected to that conflict — other than that some of the same people were involved.
"Whether that was a one off, the reasons that they did it, we're still investigating that," MacIntyre said.
The first incident connected to this larger group happened on March 1, in the area of Markham Road and Eglinton Avenue E. Police allege a 17-year-old male and and a 21-year old man, both from Toronto, drove to a commercial plaza in a stolen vehicle before one got out and shot at a victim who was standing nearby.
The two accused then took off, according to police. The victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
The second incident happened on March 4, in the area of Weston Road and St. Clair Avenue W. In this instance, three men arrived in the area in a stolen vehicle before one person got out and shot at a person who was walking nearby, police say. The victim again sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
The three men then drove to a nearby tow yard and shot a second person, who was also diagnosed with non-life-threatening injuries, investigators say. The men then drove off.
More arrests made
Later that night, police say, the same men drove that stolen vehicle to a gas station in the Lawrence Avenue E. and Warden Avenue area where they shot at a man who was washing his car. Yet again, the victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Police also allege that on March 6, the same two men involved in the March 1 shooting arrived at a tow yard in a stolen vehicle and shot at a car leaving the yard before speeding off. No injuries were reported.
Then on April 11 in the area of McLaughlin Road and Matheson Boulevard W. in Mississauga, four men tried to to get into a "financial institution" after driving up in a stolen vehicle, but were unsuccessful, according to a Toronto police news release.
Officers later stopped the car in the Rexdale Boulevard and Highway 27 area, where a foot chase began. Two males, aged 17 and 19, were arrested, and a loaded handgun with an extended magazine was recovered, police say.
MacIntyre said that all of the incidents from which police have gathered security camera footage linked to this group — minus the Piper Arms shooting — are tow truck related, either by business or employee.
"It is part of the tow truck turf wars that were going on, and we're hoping now those that we arrested will really make a difference in the number of shootings that we're seeing," he said.
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