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A man armed with multiple firearms, ammunition and gasoline ambushed a police officer stationed outside…
Belleville, Ontario — 2026-09-20
A man armed with multiple firearms, ammunition and gasoline ambushed a police officer stationed outside the Sons of Jacob synagogue in Belleville on Yom Kippur, shouting 'you're going to die for the Jews' before opening fire. Const. Jeff Smith was seriously wounded and a second officer joined the gunfight; no one inside the synagogue was hurt and the shooter, Sean Ward, died of his injuries the next day. Police called it a hate-motivated attack and a thwarted mass killing of Jewish worshippers.
EvidenceReported / Pending Review
Information has been received or identified, but assessment is not complete.
- Violence type
- Hate-Motivated Violence
- Secondary type
- Armed Robbery/Assault
- Motive
- Bias/Hate (alleged)
- Secondary motive
- Political
- Category
- Hate and identity-based incidents
- Targeted identities
- Jewish
- Conduct
- Attacks on community institutions
- Targeted community
- Religion — Jewish / antisemitic
- Source type
- News reporting
- Perpetrator
- Lone gunman (29-year-old former soldier Sean Ward)
- Target
- Jewish community / Sons of Jacob synagogue worshippers and police officers
- Killed
- 1
- Injured
- 1
- Arrested
- 0
- Themes
- None
- Source
- Winnipeg Free Press
- Last reviewed
- Not yet reviewed by a person