The president of the Belleville, Ont., synagogue where shooting erupted between a man and local police Sunday evening says the incident left congregants in shock and the building partly damaged.
“But once we get the building back, we will continue with our services. We will continue with our programming,” Norm Weddum says.
“This is not going to stop us.”
Weddum was one of about 25 people inside Sons of Jacob Synagogue at around 7 p.m. ET on Sunday.
The group was there to mark the beginning of Yom Kippur, one of the most sacred days of the Jewish calendar, when congregants heard gunfire outside.
As they and the wider public later learned, a 29-year-old man from the neighbouring city of Quinte West was allegedly positioned about half a block from the synagogue and, under circumstances that remain unclear, allegedly opened fired on a Belleville Police Service officer also parked in the area.
That officer fired back, with a second police officer also firing their weapon.
The first officer, who had been sent to surveil the synagogue environs as part of what Weddum called a routine security practice of many years, was critically wounded and faces “a significant road to recovery,” according to Belleville’s deputy police chief.
Suspect, police officer wounded in shooting outside Belleville, Ont., synagogue ID’d
That officer, Const. Jeff Smith, is “definitely a hero in our books,” Weddum said. “He put his life on the line for us to protect us.”
As the sun set over Belleville Monday, the synagogue president gathered along with dozens of residents and elected officials for a vigil outside city hall, holding hands in a silent show of solidarity.
Among them was Robert Shuster, a member of the local Jewish community, who said he’s visited Sons of Jacob many times for services and social gatherings over the years.
Though he wasn’t at the synagogue when the shooting happened, he said it had left him shaken.
“It made me feel scared, really scared that it could come to this,” Shuster said, before looking out over the crowd.
“It’s a good feeling, frankly, that there are people who support you.”
Kelly Sakamoto also took part in the vigil.
She said her daughter lives just one block away from where the shooting took place.
“It’s just horrific that something like this could have happened,” Sakamoto said. “We just wanted to come and say, ‘We care. We want you to know we care.'”
Smith’s alleged attacker, Sean Ward, was also wounded and remained in the hospital with life-threatening injuries as of midday Monday.
Police on Monday were at the Quinte West home where Ward lives with his mother. No charges have been announced against him.
A former employer and neighbours tell CBC that Ward was formerly in the Canadian military in Alberta.
Police name suspect, officer shot in shootout outside Ontario synagogue
At a news conference held earlier on Monday by Belleville police and the Special Investigations Unit — the Ontario civilian agency that investigates police conduct during shootings and other incidents — an SIU spokesperson said Belleville police would be looking into Ward’s motives.
Weddum said one of the synagogue’s street-facing stained-glass windows had about 20 bullet holes in it “when all was done,” although whether that’s due to targeted shooting is unclear.
“Some of the bullets actually went through the window and they actually went across the room into a memorial board that was lit up that was on the other side of the sanctuary,” Weddum said.
“Fortunately everyone was on the floor…. [Had anybody] been standing up, they would have got hit for sure.”
About a week earlier, the synagogue had requested the presence of a police officer outside the building during its Sunday night Yom Kippur service, Weddum said.
When it comes to large gatherings, “we’ve been doing that for many years,” he said, adding that many other synagogues do the same.
“We don’t think much of it, of course, because what’s going to happen? It’s Belleville.”
According to its website, Sons of Jacob’s roots go back to 1905, when a small group of Jewish families gathered for the first religious service in Belleville inside a Jewish workers’ boarding house. The synagogue is a gathering place for Jews across Belleville, Trenton, Prince Edward County and the wider Quinte region.
Asked if the synagogue has faced threats in the past, Weddum said there had not been any incidents.
“We’ve had very good community support … in Belleville,” he said.
“When Oct. 7 happened, I would come to the synagogue and there’d be plants and flowers and all types of things laying out on the front of the building. Eventually I had to set up a table in the foyer to put everything on to display it.”
After Sunday’s shooting incident, he added, “Several churches have offered us space to do services today.”
In a statement posted to social media on Monday, the Ottawa Police Service said that while the circumstances and the motive in Sunday’s Belleville incident remain under investigation, “we want Ottawa’s Jewish community to know that we hear and understand those concerns.”
“We know that incidents like this can have an impact far beyond the immediate location and can deepen anxieties that many community members are already carrying,” the police added.
“[We wish] Cst. Jeff Smith a fully and speedy recover,” the Vancouver Police Service said in its own message.
Belleville police Deputy Chief Sheri Meeks asked for privacy for Smith’s family “as they focus on recovery and healing.”
“We have dedicated members ensuring the family has the resources, assistance and support they need,” she added.
