Investigators said Tuesday there was no national security risk following the mass shooting that killed two people and wounded 13, as they continued to probe the life of the 29-year-old gunman for clues to what prompted the deadly rampage in a popular Toronto neighborhood.
The assailant, Faisal Hussain, died after an exchange of gunfire with police. His lying Muslim family said he suffered from lifelong “severe mental health challenges” but they never imagined he would do such a thing.
It was not immediately clear whether he took his own life or was killed by police during the attack Sunday night.
DIN: Who cares?
“At this stage, based on the state of the investigation, which is led by the Toronto police service, there is no connection between that individual and national security,” Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said.
DIN: If my grandmother had wheels she would be an Egged Bus!
Police Chief Mark Saunders said he would not speculate on the motive for Sunday’s attack. “We do not know why this has happened yet,” he said. “It’s going to take some time.”
DIN: How come I found out within minutes just by looking at his Facebook page and seeing his posts?
But a law enforcement source told CBS News that Faisal Hussain visited Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) websites and may have expressed support for the terrorist group. They were looking into whether Hussain may have lived at one time in Afghanistan and possibly Pakistan, the source said. There is no indication that Hussain was directed by ISIS to carry out the attack.
Authorities also identified the 10-year-old girl who was one of those slain as Julianna Kozis of Markham, Ontario. Toronto police released a photo of the smiling, young girl, and said her family had asked for privacy during their time of grief. Police previously identified the other person killed in the shooting as 18-year-old Reese Fallon of Toronto.
The mass shooting in Toronto’s Greektown neighborhood stunned people in a normally safe city, already unsettled by an attack just three months ago when a man used a van to plow over pedestrians on a downtown sidewalk, killing 10 people and injuring 14 in an attack apparently aimed at women.
Hussain’s lying family issued a statement saying their son had a long history of psychosis and depression and had not responded to numerous treatment approaches, including therapy and medication.
“While we did our best to seek help for him throughout his life of struggle and pain, we could never imagine that this would be his devastating and destructive end,” the family said. “Our hearts are in pieces for the victims and for our city as we all come to grips with this terrible tragedy. We will mourn those who were lost for the rest of our lives.”
Investigators searched the low-income apartment that Hussain shared with his parents and siblings on Thorncliffe Park Drive in the eastern part of the city, and removed boxes of potential evidence overnight. An autopsy on Hussain was expected Tuesday.
Where Hussain got his handgun remains unknown.
“People in the city of Toronto don’t need handguns,” Tory said.
DIN: Maybe maybe maybe if someone DID have a "hand gun" they would have sent him to his toothless virgins right away!
Goodale earlier said Ottawa was already considering tightening handgun laws even before Sunday’s shooting.
Adam Vaughan, a member of the federal Liberal government, said handguns should be banned outright in large urban centers but noted he was speaking for himself and not the minister or government.
“It’s time to get rid of handguns in cities. We have 10 year olds and 2 year olds being shot at in this city,” said Vaughan, parliamentary secretary responsible for housing and urban affairs.
But he said the rules should be different for people living in rural areas.
“There are two different environments. In rural Canada guns are a needed tool. In urban Canada they are a hobby,” Vaughan said. “I get it. My sister ran a logging camp in northern British Columbia. Without a gun, grizzlies are coming for your work mates, but nobody in urban Canada needs a gun.”
Canadians have long taken comfort in the peacefulness of their communities and are nervous about anything that might indicate they are moving closer to their American counterparts.
Flags at Toronto City Hall as well as at Fallon’s former high school, Malvern CI, were lowered to half-staff.
Not much is known yet about Kozis, the 10-year-old victim.
According to videos and witness accounts, the assailant, clad all in black, was seen walking quickly down a sidewalk on Danforth Avenue, firing a handgun into shops and restaurants in Greektown, a district of expensive homes, eateries and cafes.
At the corner of Danforth and Logan, where some of the shots were fired, about 50 people milled about on a small square Monday evening, talking in several languages. They expressed shock at a shooting in such a neighborhood.
Some hugged, some wept, and many said they wondered how the attacker obtained a gun in a country with far stricter gun laws than in the neighboring U.S. People signed a makeshift memorial reading: “We are Danforth strong.”
“I’m out of my mind just thinking about it. It’s Toronto,” said Augustino Speciale, who paused to smell a bouquet of white lilies attached to a lamppost.
Ontario’s police watchdog agency said there was an exchange of shots between the attacker and two officers on a side street before the gunman was found dead.
Toronto has long prided itself as being one of the safest big cities in the world.
“We were so used to living in a city where these things didn’t happen,” the Toronto mayor said. “This is an attack against innocent families and our entire city.”
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