One police officer wounded in shooting attack near Ontario synagogue on Yom Kippur

One police officer is in critical condition after exchanging gunfire with a suspect in a shooting near Belleville’s Sons of Jacob synagogue in Canada during Yom Kippur services on Sunday evening, according to Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU).

The suspected shooter, identified as a 29-year-old man by CNN, was armed with a shotgun and is in life-threatening condition.

No one inside the synagogue at the time of the attack was wounded.

Synagogue President Norm Weddum told CNN that the officer, who had been hired to protect the synagogue during Yom Kippur services, had saved the lives of everyone who had attended the evening services and that the building had been hit with multiple bullets.

The officer was parked near the synagogue in an unmarked vehicle, noticed the shooter approaching the building, and then made contact with the shooter, Weddum told CNN.

Weddum said he heard a series of bangs as he welcomed congregants to the evening services and went to investigate.

“That’s when we heard it again - ‘bang, bang, bang ’-and they were very loud this time so we realized it was definitely shots being fired,” he recounted to CNN. “We all ran back, I closed the doors of the auditorium, and I yelled out ‘everybody get down.’”

Weddum added that once the gunshots stopped, he exited the synagogue, where a heavy police presence had gathered. He said that police cordoned off the area and began investigating the shooting.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford also condemned the shooting in a post on social media, saying Jewish community members had "every right to gather and worship safely and without fear."

Toronto's Police Service said it was increasing patrols near synagogues and other places of worship "out of an abundance of caution."