Toronto police say handling of Bridle Path home invasion suspect was appropriate
Police chief Myron Demkiw said officers could not detain a hospitalised man who was later identified as a suspect because they lacked evidence at the time, and the investigation continues.
Toronto police said there was no failure when officers did not detain a man in hospital with a gunshot wound who was later identified as a suspect in a home invasion that injured a family of four in the Bridle Path neighbourhood. The suspect, 23-year-old Daijohn Richards, was discharged from the hospital a few hours after the attack and is now the subject of a Canada-wide warrant.
Chief Myron Demkiw told reporters that officers could not have detained the man because they had no evidence and were unaware that any of the assailants had been shot.
"From my perspective, there has been no failure," Demkiw said. "There has been nothing but exceptional policework."
The police investigation, which began after a midnight robbery on Thursday, has identified three masked assailants who entered the home through a back entrance, shot three family members and injured another with a hammer while demanding valuables. The victims were identified as real-estate executive David Morton, 75, his wife Doriana Zohil-Morton, 64, and their two adult daughters.
Police said they received notification of the hospitalised individual under the 2005 Mandatory Gunshot Wounds Reporting Act, which does not grant officers the authority to arrest someone solely on that basis. Law professor Andrew Flavelle Martin noted that the law provides only notification, not expanded powers to detain.
The investigation remains active, with the force’s senior investigators handling the case.
"We are following the evidence as it becomes available. Had there been evidence to allow us to do something different, that’s what would have happened," Demkiw said.
Richards is now wanted on multiple charges, including four counts of discharging a firearm with intent to wound, four counts of robbery with a firearm and three counts of aggravated assault.