4 more charged in drive-by gel blaster gun shootings targeting Toronto Jews

Toronto police said Wednesday they have charged four more people over two drive-by shooting incidents involving fake guns fired at Jewish people earlier this year.

The suspects are 20-year-old Luka Chokheli and 23-year-old Alishahin Isayev, both from Toronto, a 16-year-old boy also from Toronto, and a 17-year-old girl from Thornhill, police said. They were arrested on May 22.

All have been charged with three counts of assault with a weapon and one count of possession of a weapon.

“While the weapon involved was an imitation firearm, the victims did not know that at the time,” Toronto police Chief Supt. Katherine Stephenson said at a news conference. “They believed they were being shot at, and they experienced the fear and shock that comes with believing that someone is shooting at you.”

Isayev and the teenage girl were additionally charged with mischievous interference with property.

The attacks were on April 30 and May 7 and involved victims “visibly identifiable as Jewish,” Stephenson said.

News Release – Four Additional Arrests Made in Hate-Motivated Assault with a Weapon Investigations, Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue West, Bathurst Street and Highway 401https://t.co/wGmgSuGf37 pic.twitter.com/5MdkdPmHZC

— Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) June 3, 2026

“These incidents were not random,” Stephenson said. “Based on the evidence gathered during the investigation, we allege that members of the Jewish community were deliberately targeted. These incidents appear to have been organized and planned with more than individual involved in the coordination.”

Stephenson said the attacks have a “profound effect” on the Jewish community.

“Beyond the individuals directly involved, they create fear, anxiety, and uncertainty for countless others who see themselves reflected in the victims,” she said.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said in a statement that “when Jewish Canadians cannot safely walk the streets of one of the country’s most diverse cities, it is a warning sign for all Canadians.”

“The involvement of youth in many of these attacks should serve as a wake-up call,” the organization said. “We are witnessing the consequences of radicalization and the normalization of hate. Governments, institutions, and authorities at every level must confront the forces driving this hatred and violence before more Canadians are put at risk.”

Last month, 18-year-old Ruslan Novruzov was also arrested in connection with the cases. He was charged with four counts of assault with a weapon, and two counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose in the wake of the attacks.

Three people standing outside of Chasidei Bobov synagogue in North York in Toronto on May 7 were shot at with a replica firearm.

One person was struck and sustained minor injuries from what apparently was a pellet gun fired from a passing vehicle, police said at the time.

Additionally, Novruzov is alleged to have fired a gel pellet gun at visibly Jewish residents in a drive-by attack a week earlier in the northern part of the city, an area with several synagogues and Jewish schools.

The victims sustained minor injuries.

On Monday, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said the country is failing Jewish Canadians and the community is being brutally targeted by hate.

Speaking at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, he announced a new Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion that will examine the nature, scale and drivers of antisemitism. It will measure its impacts and investments in education, prevention and community safety will follow, his office said.

Carney noted that last year over two-thirds of all religion-motivated hate crimes were directed at Jewish Canadians. Jews make up only one percent of the population.