07⧸24⧸2018 LIVE with Candice Malcolm： Danforth shooting investigation
Episode Stats
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Summary
On Sunday evening, a gunman opened fire in the Danforth area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and 15 people were shot and killed. The number of confirmed victims has risen to 15, and the number of possible suspects has not been released. There are many theories about the shooter's identity and motive, and there are still so many questions that remain unanswered.
Transcript
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Hi everyone, my name is Candice Malcolm coming to you live from the True North Initiative.
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I wanted to jump on and do a live today to talk about the investigation, talk about where
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we are currently when it comes to investigating and finding out what really happened at the
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Danforth shooting, information about the shooter, about what happened, his motive.
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There's really just so many unanswered questions and we're now heading into, what, a day and
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Everyone knows by now, Sunday evening, pretty late in the evening, about 10pm, a lone shooter
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calmly walked down the street, Danforth Avenue in Toronto, for folks who know the area, it's
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known as the Danforth, it's a very lively neighbourhood that's just sort of adjacent to downtown Toronto.
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The shooter calmly walked down the street, suddenly pulled out a gun and began opening fire, shooting
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up restaurants and sort of indiscriminately shooting whoever he could, 15 people in total
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were shot, two people have died so far, a 10 year old girl and an 18 year old young woman
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And really it's just sort of, you know, fascinating how little information we still have.
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It's been a day and a half and we really don't know a lot about what's going on and because
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of that, because of the sort of tight-lipped attitude of police and authorities who are investigating,
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there's a void, a void of information and whenever that happens it gets filled.
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It gets filled with unnamed sources, so there's several different reports in Canadian papers
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as well as in American outlets, American news media has taken interest to this.
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And we hear just sort of anonymous sources who are kind of taking their best guess.
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And so we have completely different motives that are being suggested and it's unfortunate
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that the police and authorities who are working on this case don't just relay more information
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So I'm going to go through the facts that we already know, things that are verified, things
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Then I'm going to go and look at a couple of theories that are bouncing around online.
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I think that we need to be really careful when it comes to these theories because, I mean,
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There's always going to be information that's wrong when it comes to sort of unnamed sources and
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There's always going to be misinformation spread.
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So I think it's important to keep that in mind.
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I'm going to dispel some of the conspiracy theories that are bouncing around out there.
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And then I'm just going to go through the questions.
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There are still so many questions that remain unanswered and I think that this falls on the
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responsibility of the Canadian authorities, the Toronto Police, the special unit investigators
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who are now taking over this case and leading the investigation.
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When you don't provide the public with information, this is always going to happen and it happens
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It was just last week that Donald Trump met with Putin in a two-hour meeting where there
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The White House didn't release any information as to what they spoke about.
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And because of that lack of information, there's just tons of conspiracies that pop up.
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Even if the White House had put out sort of a statement saying in diplomatic terms, this
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is what Putin and Trump talked about, there would be a lot less conspiracies, but they
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And therefore, it was left to everyone's imagination as to what they spoke about.
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And there's sort of an equivalency here where the Toronto Police just aren't, you know, they
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haven't released an image, a picture of this guy.
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They haven't talked about his background at all.
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We don't really know anything about him other than his name.
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And because of that, we're all going to draw our own conclusions.
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And so you have the people on the right who have already made up their mind, people on
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the far right or people on the sort of conspiracy right who have made up their mind.
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They've decided that this must have been an ISIS attack.
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And you know, their concerns go straight towards immigration.
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Then on the left, you have the same sort of mentality, except for they just assume it
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And the entire problem is we have to go after guns.
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Toronto's mayor went down that path and mused as to why anyone in Toronto would need a gun.
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Well, given how unsafe Toronto has become, given how many shootings and murders there
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are, it had been in the city this year, sadly, you know, Toronto was always thought of as
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a safe city where it didn't have the problems of major US cities of similar population.
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In fact, there was an article in BlogTO that I posted about two weeks ago talking about how
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Toronto now has a higher murder rate than New York City, which is baffling and surprising.
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I think that part of the reason why people were concerned right off the bat with this
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case was that it took 24 hours for authorities to release the name of the shooter.
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Many will look at the delay, and then they finally release the name, and it's an Arab name.
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The name sounds Arab, from what I understand, he's a Pakistani Canadian, Faisal Hussain.
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And so because of that sort of coincidence of not releasing the name for 24 hours, and
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then the name comes out, and it's an Arab-sounding name, leads many to jump to the conclusion that
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The Feds have actually ruled that out, so a public safety spokesperson said that there
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is no national security angle here, and that there doesn't seem to be any connection to
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I think that you can take that with a grain of salt.
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The federal government, obviously, obviously, the Trudeau government obviously has a stake
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in saying that this is not a national security issue, just given Justin Trudeau's own political
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The government has a partisan issue in downplaying any ties to terrorism.
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Because of Trudeau's stance, he's apologized and defended Islamist terrorists.
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Everyone knows he gave $10.5 million in an official apology to an Al-Qaeda member.
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He's received plenty of criticism over his policy of allowing ISIS members to return to Canada,
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and he's even said that they can be an incredibly powerful, positive voice in the community.
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So obviously, Trudeau, and then of course, the whole issue of the unsecure border and
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So Trudeau government definitely has an interest in downplaying the terror element.
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But I think that we should keep in mind the fact that CSIS is involved, which is Canada's
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intelligence agency, the Canadian version of the CIA.
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We know that they're involved in this investigation.
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And so the mere fact that they are involved leads us to believe that there might be some
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angle, whether they're just investigating, whether they have clues, whether they have some
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evidence that this individual might have been motivated or tied in some way to jihadist,
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And so we sort of have these two contradictory ideas here that there's one thing that the
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Trudeau spokespeople are saying, and then there's another thing that we know that agencies are
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So a lot of the reports that we've seen so far are based on anonymous, unnamed sources.
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And that can be a problem because you don't really know how credible these people are.
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You're sort of taking the word of the writer as to the credibility of the person.
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Now, I know there's a lot of reasons why you wouldn't use unnamed sources when I write
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Occasionally I have to use an unnamed source because there is no way to get that person
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And maybe their position doesn't enable them to go on the record.
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And so at this point right now, we sort of have this situation where there's incredibly
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I've worked my own sources, I've tried to talk to my own people, and they're really
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just not giving any information to reporters, to the public.
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And so, you know, the people who are willing to talk, you know, maybe they're not as credible
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And so I'm not saying that the sources are uncredible.
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I'm just saying that, you know, you have a CBS story as well as my colleague Joe Warmington
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writing in the Toronto Sun who say that the shooter was known to authorities.
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So this is from my colleague Joe Warmington in the Toronto Sun.
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It says sources in Toronto and CSIS officials as well as the RCMP are looking into the past,
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which sources say include his residence in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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So this was repeated in the CBS story that the shooter lived in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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You know, young men from the West don't typically go to those two countries unless they're involved
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in some kind of, you know, they're involved with some kind of organization.
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And, you know, it's often, often because, especially Afghanistan, they're going for training.
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Pakistan, too, a lot of the, a lot of the new terrorists prior to going to the Islamic
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state in Syria and Iraq would go to Afghanistan, Pakistan to receive Islamist military training.
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And so that's obviously a big red flag, the fact that he went there.
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Joe Warmington, the Sun, also reports that the, that authorities had spoken to saying the
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shooter in the past about his online activities, and then in the CBS story goes even further,
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saying that he was known, let's see, where it is the CBS story, saying that he was known
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to have visited ISIS websites, that he visited Islamic State websites and expressed support
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And so that, you know, obviously, if that's true, then the conclusion's already drawn.
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If those sources are illegitimate and they're verifiable, and those are people, really, that's
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really what they're looking into, then it's pretty straightforward.
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This person was, was, was motivated or inspired, at least, by ISIS, if those things are true.
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Now, compare that or contrast that, I should say, with this New York Post piece that came out.
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This says, the headline reads, Toronto gunman was a kook obsessed with Batman.
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And so this story is, is speaking to a different source.
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And basically, it's saying that the guy has a history of being an emotionally disturbed person,
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that he was known in high school for keeping pictures of people being killed, and sort of
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that just, he was like a deranged individual, and that he had some fascination with the Dark
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Knight and Batman, which, again, is totally different than the stories coming out of the
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So, you know, take, take that with a grain of salt, right?
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You know, this guy is either a hardened jihadist who came from, who, who, who traveled to Pakistan,
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Afghanistan for military training, and used to be interested in ISIS websites so much so
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that authorities knew of him and used to visit him, and that he'd spoken to authorities.
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You know, that, that paints one very distinct picture, and on the, on the contrast, we have
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the picture of him just being this sort of mentally ill person who suffered from psychosis
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and who is just, you know, deranged in some way.
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I just wanted to go through all the information that we have so far and talk about what, what
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it is that we know, what it is that we don't know, and I offer my criticism of the Toronto
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police and authorities for the way that they are being just so reluctant to provide information
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And so, we have these two very different stories being painted in different media, and then,
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you know, we also have the sort of online speculation.
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So, there is, let me see if I can find, here it is.
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So, there's an individual named Teeley Humphrey.
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He's a former armed service guy, armed forces guy, and I've, I've spoken to him before.
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He's been a named source in previous stories of mine.
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I think he's trustworthy and legitimate, and he has been tweeting out the information that
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he's been receiving from his own sources that are within, well, he, he just says the
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So, here on Twitter this morning, he says, my sources say that our intelligence agency
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know of his online support for terrorist group and of his travel to Afghanistan and Pakistan
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Toronto police also interacted with him several times.
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And so, that's the tweet that came from Humphrey.
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My experience with him is that he is credible and that he has solid information.
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I'm not sure why he's putting this out on Twitter and not, you know, going to, going
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I guess that's his call that he wants everyone to know instead of going through official media.
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But, you know, that's, that's what he's hearing.
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And so, again, that paints a pretty different picture.
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And so, there is this sort of question that's emerging.
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You know, was this Islamic terrorism or was it just a case of a mentally ill guy that just
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So, as you probably know as well, the man's family released a statement.
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They gave it to the CBC and there was a little bit of, people were a little bit skeptical because
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So, as I mentioned earlier, it took 24 hours for authorities to release the name of the
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And almost simultaneously, like the moment that we knew the name, CBC had this statement,
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which leads many to believe that it was coordinated, that CBC was coordinating with authorities,
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that they had the statement ready to go, that CBC already knew the name of the shooter,
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but they were holding that information from the public and they were waiting for the authorities
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The authorities were waiting for the CBC to have this cover, this letter to sort of cover,
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you know, this is the, the, the, the elephant in the room is that all of these authorities
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and all of these elites are just super nervous about backlash.
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They're, they're, they don't really trust the Canadian public.
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They think that everyone's just going to lose their mind if they find out that this was terrorism
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or if they find out it wasn't, you know, in this case, the guy's name is Arab.
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And so they, they, they sort of do this little song and dance and they cover it up a little bit.
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And so, you know, I'm not saying that that was what is happening here, but it looks pretty
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suspicious and looks coordinated when you have the CBC releasing a statement from the family
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at the exact same moment as the police released the name of the shooter.
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And so the, the family releases this very Polish statement from the Hussein family, basically
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just says that the son was, had severe mental illness challenges, struggling with psychosis
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Interventions of professionals were unsuccessful.
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Medication and therapy were unable to treat him.
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And so this was just something that the family always struggled with.
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So, you know, that, that hasn't been verified at all.
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And again, my own impression of that statement is that it was very polished.
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It does look like it was written by a lawyer or some kind of a PR type.
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And of course it's completely possible that the family has a lawyer or a PR type in the family
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that, you know, a cousin or one of their other children or something like that is a, is a
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But just given how polished it is, I think it leads many to be skeptical.
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And especially because the family is obviously coping with like an unbelievable tragedy, right?
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And not only that, but he is the evil source of this carnage.
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He's the one that carried out this grisly attack, murdering girls.
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And, and it's hard to, it's hard to imagine that a family in that situation, especially
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an immigrant family, elderly parents, the father's in the hospital, they have another
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son in a coma, um, the, the, the dealing with this kind of tragedy, they would be able to
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put together such an articulate, uh, perfectly worded statement.
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And that's, that's why many believe that it was written by, uh, someone else.
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But of course, like I said, it's completely possible that they have a son or a cousin who
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And, and, but then there's another thing that sort of does, again, question the narrative
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So we're also the family statement that, that gives us sort of one perspective.
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Their perspective is that the reason this happened is because their son is crazy.
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We we've seen video footage of what happened of the, of the attack.
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And what you do see is a very calm, very collective individual.
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He doesn't seem like a crazed, frantic lunatic.
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He's he, he, you know, he knows what he's doing.
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And so, um, my colleague, Anthony Fury and the son made this observation.
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He said, while Hussein may have suffered from a severe mental illness, what unfolded on Sunday
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night were the actions of a highly functioning adult who can execute a plan.
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And, you know, we further have evidence of that judging from, uh, my colleague, Joe
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Warmington went down to the area where this individual lived.
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And again, it doesn't, you know, he sounded like he had a lot of friends that he got into
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some trouble, but, you know, he, he was working at a shopper's drug mart.
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Uh, he, he was obviously a functioning individual.
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He wasn't someone who had like a very low, uh, functioning level, uh, where he wasn't
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He, he, he, he, maybe he had depression and he had psychosis, but he was functioning in,
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Uh, the, you know, people who lived near him said he was shy, he was reserved, but that
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And we know that he participated in, uh, uh, um, sort of like public speaking classes.
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He was trying to become a better public speaker.
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He w he was involved in his community, which kind of counters the idea that he had this severe
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And then another thing about those videos and what we know about what unfolded is that
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he, he, he looked like he knew what he was doing.
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And it also looked like he knew how to handle a weapon.
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Um, I, I had a quote from a source that I spoke to who said, quote, of note, his posture
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and handling in the video of him shooting shows familiarity and capability with the weapon.
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So from people sort of experts and analysts that are looking at the video footage, it looked
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And then that brings us to another aspect of this debate that's still ongoing, which is
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that, uh, of course, uh, as I said earlier, the left jumped right towards, uh, gun control
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and, and further restrictions on guns and blaming sort of guns and not the person and not, they're
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not looking at their motive or their ideology, but just blaming the weapon that they use to
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The Toronto mayor himself said something along that line.
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The, uh, Globe and Mail reporter or, uh, Globe and Mail writer has jumped right in on that and said
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that there's no reason why anyone should have a gun in Toronto unless you're a police officer.
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But I think that one thing that's sort of missing from the debate that I've seen is that Canada ought,
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well, everyone knows Canada already has strict gun rules.
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And the idea, uh, that Hussain was able to get a gun.
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Well, if he, if he actually had this history of mental illness, including psychosis and medication,
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it's pretty remarkable that he was able to obtain a gun, you know, there's already very
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restriction, strict restrictions, restrictions when it comes to purchasing a weapon, getting
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a license, purchasing a gun, transferring a gun in Canada, in Toronto.
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And especially if that person has mental illness.
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So look, I'll admit, I'm not, I'm not a gun expert.
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I don't, uh, I don't personally have a lot of experience with guns, but I did speak to someone
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This is a quote from a person I spoke to who knows a lot about weapons, knows a lot about
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He said, quote, you have to disclose whether you've had any mental illnesses within the past
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If you have, if you have, so if you have, um, had mental illnesses, you need to supply
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a letter from your psychiatrist, also family members and employers are interviewed, regardless
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So if, if he did have mental illness and he did apply to get a gun, you know, the authorities
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would have done really strict, um, you know, really strict overview.
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Um, even if he was able to get a license or maybe he got his license in the past and he
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tried to buy a gun, um, there would still be, uh, restrictions on that.
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The store is required to, um, do a transfer order with the government and run a background
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check on the individual before he can take the gun home.
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So again, having a lifelong struggle with mental illness, psychosis and medication, it just doesn't
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And that's something that needs to be addressed and understood if, if you really, uh, if, as
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his family suggested, he had this history of mental illness, uh, we need to know more
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We need to know, um, information about, you know, who's treated by what kinds of medication
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We just need to know more information about that before we can just sort of accept that
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It's just sort of a suggestion and it hasn't been verified and it hasn't been backed up.
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So look, there's still a lot of questions that need to be answered.
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I know that there's a video that's circulating on Twitter and Facebook.
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If you look at that video, you have to ask a question like, who put this together?
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It's clearly like 10 different guys in the video.
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We haven't seen a picture of him and look, it's a pretty common name.
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Faisal Hussain in that community is a pretty common name.
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And so there's lots of guys that have that name.
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I myself, as soon as it was released his name, I started doing tons of research on social
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media trying to figure out who this guy is, which account he is.
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Basically from best I can tell, this guy didn't seem to have any social media accounts.
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And so whoever's put together a video claiming to be him, I mean, they don't have information
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They've just searched the guy's name, found a bunch of pictures, or maybe just found pictures
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that don't match the name and created this video.
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So that's not helpful to sort of create, to put fake information into the narrative.
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It just sort of distracts and it gives critics more reason to go after you.
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But again, I'll just emphasize this again, I did at the beginning of the video and I'll
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I think that the Toronto police and authorities in this case are making a huge mistake.
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Is it true that he traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan?
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If so, why wouldn't you just tell that information to the public?
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Why would you have the Federal Department of Public Safety downplaying it and saying that
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there's no national security angle when we know that CIS is involved, that we've seen
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multiple reports now from unnamed sources saying that he was known to authorities, that he
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was visited, that he used to look at ISIS websites?
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Because when you don't provide information, there's a void and the void gets filled in
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with theories and ideas and oftentimes misinformation and unnamed sources.
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So, the best thing that the authorities could do here is just to be as forthright and open
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Even if that is, you know, we have multiple angles here.
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I think that that would be helpful instead because there's just this lack of information
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and we're heading into now almost 24 hours since the event and, you know, we don't have
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And so we still, again, don't know there's these two competing narratives.
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Or was it a person who had a severe mental illness?
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And you know, there's information that backs both sides.
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And I'll just say again that we should be more trusting of the public to provide information.
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And we should make sure that these questions get answered, that the questions that I'm
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raising, the questions that others have raised get addressed, get answered.
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There shouldn't be this sort of fear of public reaction when it comes to this kind of thing.
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We can handle the truth and we should be able to be given the truth and we can have a discussion
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as a society going forward as to how we can cope with this, how we can deal with this.
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Not coming to rash conclusions or anything like that.
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Not instinctively saying, you know, it's mental illness, therefore we should ban guns.
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Or saying it was a jihadist, therefore we should, you know, stop immigration or something
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But, you know, having more of a nuanced conversation about it all.
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So that's the information that we know, that's the information we have.
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I'll come on live again if there's any sort of breakthrough, any new information I think
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If you haven't already, make sure that you like and follow the True North initiative.
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We have a bunch of exclusive content that's available to club members.
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If you support our mission and the work we do, we, you know, we do increasingly more investigative
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We try to put a lot of information out in the public domain that isn't there already.
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So if you support that and you want to learn more about our organization, the work we do,
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You can join one of our clubs, which is the sort of clubs that get more information and
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Again, they get the exclusive content as well as some swag.
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And again, I will come live again with new information if it comes up.