Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Member of Belleville, Ont., synagogue describes hearing shots that left 2 wounded

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Member of Belleville, Ont., synagogue describes hearing shots that left 2 wounded · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Breaking overnight in Belleville, Ontario. This is in the eastern
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  Speaker 1: part of the province. A shooting in that community near
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  Speaker 1: a synagogue as members of the Jewish community were gathering
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  Speaker 1: in that synagogue to mark the holiest day on the calendar,
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  Speaker 1: Yom Kippur. We're going to go to someone who is
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  Speaker 1: directly connected with Sons of Jacob Synagogue, the president, Norm Wedham. Norm,
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  Speaker 1: good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning.
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  Speaker 1: Tell me, were you inside the building when this all happened?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I was.
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  Speaker 1: What happened?
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  Speaker 2: It happened about seven o'clock last night. And we were
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  Speaker 2: just starting to do our services for the holiday of
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  Speaker 2: Yom Kippur. And I was just around seven. I was
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  Speaker 2: just trying to usher everyone into the sanctuary to begin services.
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  Speaker 2: And that's when we heard the first shots. It was boom, boom, boom.
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  Speaker 2: And we went, geez, what was that? I mean... We
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  Speaker 2: weren't even too sure. And then directly after that, there
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  Speaker 2: were some more shots. And then a few of us
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  Speaker 2: went out into the lobby. We went towards the front
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  Speaker 2: doors of the building just to see what was going on.
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  Speaker 2: We weren't sure what it was. And once I got
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  Speaker 2: into the lobby, then the shots continued and they were
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  Speaker 2: more defined. And I could say, oh, this is definitely
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  Speaker 2: someone is shooting here. So that's when we ran back
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  Speaker 2: into the auditorium of the synagogue. I closed the doors
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  Speaker 2: behind us so as to not leave a visible target.
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  Speaker 2: And we hit the floor. We literally, everyone went down.
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  Speaker 2: I yelled for everyone to get onto the floor. And
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  Speaker 2: the shots continued for a few more seconds. And then
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  Speaker 2: it was basically over.
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  Speaker 1: Norm.
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  Speaker 2: Now we did.
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  Speaker 1: Sorry, Norm, I'm cutting you off, but is it correct
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  Speaker 1: for me to say that there was a police officer
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  Speaker 1: who was stationed in front of the synagogue or in
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  Speaker 1: that general area?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, and that's what I was just going to say.
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  Speaker 2: We had a police officer stationed. He was at the
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  Speaker 2: side of the building in the parking lot. And because
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  Speaker 2: he was in an unmarked vehicle, I believe that's why
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  Speaker 2: the gunman did not see him right away. The gunman
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  Speaker 2: was approaching the synagogue. and did not see the policeman.
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  Speaker 2: I think the policeman saw him first, probably. That's probably
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  Speaker 2: what I'm speculating, and confronted him, and that's where the
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  Speaker 2: gunfire started.
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  Speaker 1: And Norm, you know, there's a limit to what the
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  Speaker 1: Belleville police can say because the Special Investigations Unit has
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  Speaker 1: invoked its mandate. That's correct. What have they told you
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  Speaker 1: in the immediate aftermath about what this individual was trying
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  Speaker 1: to do, where to go?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely zero. Like you said, they're doing their investigation. We
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  Speaker 2: don't really know too much about the individual or where
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  Speaker 2: he came from or nothing about him at this time.
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  Speaker 1: Did police come into the temple, into the synagogue?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, eventually they did.
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  Speaker 1: And what did they say? You were all lying on
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  Speaker 1: the floor at that point. What did they say?
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  Speaker 2: So once the gunfire had stopped within a couple of minutes,
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  Speaker 2: then we started... moving around a bit and myself and
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  Speaker 2: a few other members, we went out back to the,
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  Speaker 2: we went to the front doors again and we were
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  Speaker 2: looking out and I could see at that point that
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  Speaker 2: there was a very heavy police presence, lots of police cars,
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  Speaker 2: lots of flashing lights. I saw two officers were attending
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  Speaker 2: to one officer who was sitting on the ground. And
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  Speaker 2: then they were kind of waving us back into the building.
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  Speaker 2: And then the next time I looked out, I saw, well,
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  Speaker 2: the one officer had been put on a stretcher and
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  Speaker 2: he was being taken away by ambulance. And then there
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  Speaker 2: was a second ambulance that arrived and somebody else was
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  Speaker 2: put on a stretcher and was going in that ambulance.
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  Speaker 2: So we assume that was the shooter.
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  Speaker 1: And for those who are joining us now, Norm, I
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  Speaker 1: will just point out the police officer, we are told
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  Speaker 1: not critically injured. I think when you talk about police
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  Speaker 1: tending to one of their own, that this was a
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  Speaker 1: we know a police officer was shot in this encounter. Norm,
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  Speaker 1: it's a very busy morning on a very holy day.
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  Speaker 1: I very much appreciate your time. But I do want
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  Speaker 1: to ask one question.
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  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot we don't know here. We don't know
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  Speaker 1: who this individual was. We don't have an explanation of
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  Speaker 1: a motive from police. Not at this point. The investigation ongoing.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think he was trying to do?
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  Speaker 2: Well, he was coming down the street with some type
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  Speaker 2: of a firearm and he was headed towards a synagogue
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  Speaker 2: where Jewish people were having service. So I think his
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  Speaker 2: intentions were pretty clear.
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  Speaker 1: And how's everybody doing today?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's, um, it's rough, but, um, you know, and
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  Speaker 2: unfortunately we can't have our services again today, uh, to
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  Speaker 2: complete the, uh, Yom Kippur holiday because the, uh, the
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  Speaker 2: building is under a lockdown right now for the investigation. But, um,
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  Speaker 2: you know, once, once, uh, the buildings is released and
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  Speaker 2: we'll get back to having services and, uh, We will
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  Speaker 2: carry on.
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  Speaker 1: Norm Wedham, been a long night. Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 1: Particularly special day for you and for your community. And
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  Speaker 1: so I'm glad to see you safe and want to
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  Speaker 1: thank you for your time.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.