When a gunman approached a police cruiser outside the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario, during Yom Kippur, approximately two dozen people were praying inside. The armed officer sitting outside was not part of a permanent security system available to every synagogue in Canada. Police had dispatched him after receiving a report about a suspicious vehicle.
That decision may have prevented a massacre. "The only thing that stood in the way of every congregant of that shul being murdered was the presence of an armed police officer," Simon Wolle, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada, told Fox News Digital. ISRAELI MEDICS TRAIN US SYNAGOGUES HOW TO RESPOND TO ATTACKS, AS HIGH HOLIDAYS APPROACH Police said last week's shooting was a deliberate, hate-motivated attack targeting the Jewish community.
According to authorities, 29-year-old Sean Ward approached Belleville Police Constable Jeff Smith and allegedly shouted, "You are going to die for the Jews," before firing a shotgun at him. Smith was struck multiple times while still inside his vehicle. Despite his injuries, he emerged from the cruiser and returned fire.
A second officer arrived within minutes and joined the confrontation. Ward later died at a hospital. Smith remains hospitalized after suffering multiple gunshot wounds to his head and body and serious head trauma.
Belleville Police Chief Murray Rodd said Smith faces multiple surgeries and a "lengthy and challenging" recovery, but said the officer is "making progress every day." Smith’s wife, Ashley, has also spoken publicly about her husband’s recovery, describing the shooting as "the scariest and darkest day of our lives." "My words aren’t strong or steady yet, but I knew I needed to find them," she wrote. "I needed to use my voice for my dear Jeff, until he is able to use his." MAN CHARGED WITH ASSAULT, HATE CRIMES AFTER ALLEGEDLY DISRUPTING SHABBAT SERVICES AT NYC SYNAGOGUE Ashley Smith also addressed the Jewish community directly, thanking those who have supported her husband and their family. "Please know that your love, your prayers and your support have reached us," she wrote.
We love you, we see you, we pray for you." She said her husband still faces "a very long, difficult road ahead," but added that he is surrounded by what she called "an army of love." The worshipers inside the synagogue were not physically injured. Investigators later disclosed that the gunman possessed what Belleville Police Chief Murray Rodd described as the "means, motive and mechanisms to cause a mass casualty and the destruction of the Jewish synagogue." Police also reported discovering combustible materials inside the suspect’s vehicle. "This individual had the means, the intention, the deliberate plans and the capacity to conduct a murderous massacre," Wolle said.
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