Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Toronto Killings

(Bloomberg) -- The Islamic State is claiming responsibility for the shooting that killed a girl and a woman in Toronto on Sunday, according to Agence France-Presse.

The shooting was committed by “one of the soldiers” of the group who followed the “calls to target nationals of the coalition countries,” according to a statement from the group’s propaganda agency Amaq, the French news agency said.

Faisal Hussain, 29, killed an 18-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl and wounded 13 people aged 10 to 59, in the shooting rampage in the city’s Greektown at about 10 p.m. on Sunday. Hussain died near the scene after an exchange with police gunfire.

“At this stage, we have no evidence to support these claims,” Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said in an email Wednesday. “We will continue to explore every investigative avenue including interviewing those who knew Mr. Hussain, reviewing his online activity, and looking into his experiences with mental health.”

A statement from Hussain’s family said that he had suffered from “severe mental health challenges, struggling with psychosis and depression his entire life.”

Canada’s Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Tuesday that in this stage of the investigation, which is being led by the Toronto police, there was “no connection between that individual and national security.”

The shooting came three months after the driver of a van plowed into pedestrians on a Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people.

--With assistance from Danielle Bochove.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stefanie Marotta in Toronto at smarotta11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Courtney Dentch at cdentch1@bloomberg.net, ;David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net, Jacqueline Thorpe

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