Inside the terrifying moments of the Belleville synagogue shooting: ‘Get on the floor’ - Toronto Star

Police have not revealed a suspected motive for the shooting, which has left a police officer injured and the suspect clinging to life.

A police officer and suspect are in hospital following a shooting outside the Sons of Jacob synagogue in Belleville, Ont.

BELLEVILLE, ONT. — As Norm Weddum walked into his synagogue Sunday evening for the Yom Kippur service, he thanked the police officer parked outside for watching over his congregation.

Inside Belleville’s Sons of Jacob synagogue, where Weddum is president, about two dozen members were about to mark the holiest day of the year in Judaism when a noise tore through air. Bang bang bang.

Weddum and a few others went into the lobby to investigate the sound, which some had dismissed as just another instance of someone pelting the temple with rocks. 

“Then it happened again: bang, bang, bang,” Weddum recalled. “I yelled, ‘everyone hit the floor, get on the floor immediately.’”

Bullet holes pierced the stain glass window at the Sons of Jacob synagogue in Belleville.

Outside, where a man had skulked towards the temple, a shotgun in hand, police and the suspect exchanged gunfire — 20 or 30 shots, by some witnesses’ count. Some bullets blasted through the synagogue’s stained glass windows. 

The officer and the suspect were both sent to hospital, where Const. Jeff Smith is in stable condition and the 29-year-old accused is clinging to life.

The suspect has been identified as Sean Ward from Quinte West.

Police have not revealed a motive for the shooting, now under investigation by Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit, which probes police-involved shootings. When SIU spokesperson Kristy Denette was asked by a reporter if this was a “terrorist attack aimed at the Jewish community,” she said “common sense” would say that was “probably the case.” 

The apparent targeting marks the latest terrifying trend in Canada of synagogue attacks that, until now, had been confined to its largest cities. For the congregants of Sons of Jacob, a night that should have been filled with singing, prayer and contemplations of forgiveness has left a community riven with trauma.

“It shouldn’t be happening in Belleville,” Weddum said. “It shouldn’t be happening anywhere.”

Evidence markers set next to a shotgun used by the alleged shooter outside of the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ont. 

Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis said fear stoked by the attacks have reverberated well beyond his city of 55,000 people.

“This will affect everybody in the Jewish community across Canada,” he said. “Everybody’s going to be impacted. It echoes through the whole community across the world. I had calls last night from Hawaii, bad news travels fast. I’m thinking today of the injured officer, families, the Jewish community, what they all went through last night.”

Even before the shooting, Jews in Belleville were worried for their well-being. Smith, the officer stationed outside the temple, was performing a duty that had become routine for the Belleville Police Service. After a series of violent attacks on Jewish cultural institutions in Canada in recent years, large events at synagogues, police believe, have come to warrant security.

Chris Malette, the Liberal MP for the Bay of Quinte, which includes Belleville, said he and another local MP had met with members of the synagogue earlier this year to discuss their concerns about safety and need for security. After the meeting, he said, they understood that security must be present anytime the synagogue has a major gathering, a difficult pill to swallow, he said, for someone in what he considered to be an exceptionally welcoming town. 

“I don’t think you can put into words just how shocking this is for our community,” said Malette, who lives a few blocks from where the shooting happened. “Anyone who’s lived in Belleville knows what a tolerant place it is.”

Ontario's police watchdog says a man armed with a shotgun opened fire at a police officer stationed outside a synagogue in Belleville, Ont., on Sunday night, triggering a shootout that left both seriously injured. The shooting took place as people gathered inside the synagogue to observe Yom Kippur. (Sept. 21, 2026)

Melissa Walker was outside doing yard work when the gunfight started. She said she saw the shooter hiding behind an older model Honda CR-V. 

“I witnessed him get shot,” said Walker. “He was crouching behind that car, and I saw him get shot, he went down. I was going to run up and help, because I didn’t know what was going on.”

Police surrounded him, yelling. A man at the scene showed the Star dashcam footage that shows a man lying on roadway near the entrance of the synagogue while two police officers with their firearms drawn stood over him. Several officers with their weapons drawn were also seen running toward where the man was on the ground.

Bullet holes peppered a truck outside the Sons of Jacob synagogue in Belleville, Ont.

“They kicked his gun away,” said Walker. “He was on the ground, no movement, nothing, for about five minutes. And then the paramedics pulled up, loaded his body on, and that was it.”

According to police at an afternoon press conference, the shooter was absent any vital signs, but paramedics helped revive him. 

Belleville teacher Kyle Moffat, 29, was inside the synagogue when the gunfire erupted outside. If the service had started when it was meant to, about 25 minutes before the first shot, the rabbi could have been killed, he said.

“If we started on time, like we were supposed to, the bullets came through the glass right where the rabbi would be standing,” he said. “So, he would have been hit a 100 per cent. The fact that we were just trickling in when it started, probably saved some people.”

It was a few minutes after the gunfire that police entered the synagogue and told them what was happening. More police in tactical gear arrived and did a sweep inside. He said they were told that the officer who was shot was in good spirits and the shooter was known to police.

The congregants were there until about 8:30 p.m., when they were packed onto bus and taken to the police station for questioning. But before that, despite what happened, and surrounded by heavy police presence, he said the 25 people wanted to continue to observe Yom Kippur.

“Weirdly enough, we continued the service inside the synagogue with the police all around, sang, prayed, chanted,” he said. 

A police officer and a man were wounded in an exchange of gunfire Sunday near a synagogue in Ontario as members of the Jewish community marked Yom Kippur, authorities said. (Sept. 21, 2026)

Jason Miller is a Toronto-based reporter for the Star covering crime and justice. Reach him on email: jasonmiller@thestar.ca or follow him on X: @millermotionpic.

Ben Cohen is part of the Star's city hall bureau, based in Toronto. Follow him on X: @bcohenn.