5 shootings, 3 innocent people killed: Police in Peel Region now say they’re all linked

Five shootings — including two that resulted in the deaths of three innocent people — were all linked, police in Peel Region said Thursday.

Officers, however, remained tight-lipped on specifics.

Peel Regional Police and Ontario Provincial Police held a joint news conference on their investigation — dubbed Project Midnight — which has looked into the shootings, all of which happened in November.

Police said it’s believed the incidents were targeted, but the individuals who were killed were not the intended targets.

The first shooting occurred on Nov. 7 in the area of Cottrelle Boulevard and Thorndale Road in Brampton. Two suspects fired guns outside of a home and left in a black Dodge RAM 1500 pickup, police said.

On Nov. 11, two suspects in black hoodies fired shots at a home in the area of Lorenville Drive and Elbern Markell Drive in Brampton before they left in a burgundy Dodge RAM 1500 pickup, police said.

On Nov. 14, a suspect fired a gun from a vehicle at the same home as in the second incident, before fleeing in a late-model silver Mazda 3 hatchback, police said.

There were no reports of injuries in the first three incidents.

On Nov. 15, the first fatality occurred.

Peel police responded to the area of Royal Windsor Drive and Winston Churchill Boulevard in Mississauga after a shooting. Brampton resident Jagraj Singh, 29, was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

“Investigators have determined that Mr. Singh was not the intended target, and it was simply the wrong place at the wrong time,” Peel police Insp. Todd Custance said.

In that incident, it’s believed the suspects arrived and left in a blue Dodge Charger, police said.

Police spoke with man, woman days before they were fatally shot in Caledon

Custance said as part of their homicide investigation into Singh’s death, Peel police officers attended a home on Nov. 16 on Mayfield Road in Caledon and spoke with “several people,” including a man and a woman who were fatally shot just days later.

“At that time, the Peel Regional Police and the officers did not have any reason to believe the residents of that home were in danger,” Custance said.

“Like any major case, we visit dozens, if not hundreds, of addresses in support of an investigation. And this case is certainly no different.”

Custance didn’t provide additional information on why exactly officers went to the home, but he said the owners of that property were not connected to Singh’s killing.

On Nov. 20, a shooting occurred at the home, resulting in the death of the man and woman.

A third victim, a woman, was seriously injured and remains in hospital.

Police said it’s believed multiple people were involved. A possible suspect was seen entering a stolen black Dodge RAM 2500 pickup truck which travelled westbound on Mayfield Road and was later involved in a vehicle fire in Caledon, officers said.

The pickup was stolen on Nov. 14 in the area of Mississauga Valley Boulevard and Arista Way in Mississauga, police said.

“Investigative information and forensic evidence have confirmed that the incidents in Peel Region and Caledon are connected,” Ontario Provincial Police Det. Insp. Brian McDermott said.

“Furthermore, it seems that the locations of the shootings were deliberately targeted. We wish to emphasize that the three victims in the homicide were innocent and mistakenly targeted.”

Peel police public information officer Tyler Bell said while the shootings bear some similarities to extortion-related crimes that recently prompted the creation of an extortion task force, at this time these incidents “do not appear” to be extortion-related.

A reporter then asked police what links the crimes, but officers wouldn’t give specifics.

“Through information that police have learned, as well as forensic evidence, that has led us to the belief that (they are) related,” he said.

“The exact nature of those linkages and what’s led to it is integral to the investigative integrity and could jeopardize the investigation if we were to release exactly what those links are.”

McDermott said officers are looking for “multiple” suspects.

“In terms of the linkage of all those suspects, again, that’s something that’s part of the ongoing investigation that we’re trying to determine. And releasing any possible links could jeopardize the ongoing investigation,” he said.

Investigators released a number of images Thursday of suspects and suspect vehicles. Anyone with information on the case was asked to contact a dedicated tip line at 1-833-941-5570 or Crime Stoppers anonymously.

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