Photo: Ian MacAlpine/The Canadain Press

A man drove up in a pick-up truck to the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario, Sunday evening during Yom Kippur services and opened fire on an off-duty Belleville Police Service constable working as a security guard there as he sat in his vehicle.

Police say the man, 29-year-old Sean Ward who lived in nearby Quinte West and served in the Canadian armed forces in Alberta, joining in 2017 and leaving in 2022 at the rank of corporal, was hit by return fire from the security guard, and from another off-duty constable working as a security guard who rushed to the scene. The first constable and the shooter were wounded, and the shooter Sean Ward died from his wounds in hospital in Kingston, Ontario, Monday night.

Ward is said to have been discharged from the Canadian military’s Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry division because he refused Covid vaccinations. One military source told the GlobalNEWS.ca news website Ward believed Jews were responsible for the virus, restrictions and vaccinations.

Staff at the synagogue counted more than twenty bullet holes in a decorative glass window. Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit said 20 to 30 shots were fired. Police said Ward was armed with a shotgun. Images CBC showed of the damaged decorative glass window in the synagogue indicated lower-caliber rounds from a rifle and/or pistol, not shotgun slugs nor bird-shot, but possible buckshot from a shotgun.

Around 25 people were inside the synagogue at the time as services and prayers marking the beginning of Yom Kippur were taking place. Sons of Jacob Synagogue president Norm Weddlum recounted to the CBC how congregants huddled away from the entrance during the gunfire outside.

“But once we get the building back, we will continue with our services. We will continue with our programming. This is not going to stop us,” Weddlum told CBC.

The Sons of Jacob Synagogue website describes itself as “about 60 members from Belleville, Trenton, and the surrounding Quinte region. In addition, there are many Jewish people in the area who, while not formal members, often join us for special occasions and holidays. According to our constitution, services are conducted in accordance with modern Conservative Judaism. In practice, because our members come from diverse Jewish backgrounds, our services incorporate both Hebrew and English and draw upon the beauty of varied Jewish traditions.”

Constable Jeff Smith remains in critical condition in hospital in Kingston.

Full story here.