A man with an extensive history with the police faces ten charges after stabbing a Toronto police officer on Friday in Toronto’s west end.
27-year-old Gabriel Escairo was known to police before the attack that led to him being shot and arrested in a Tim Hortons parking lot at Lansdowne Avenue and College Street in Toronto, Ont.
Both the rookie police officer who was stabbed, Const. Manraj Mahal and Escairo reportedly were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and are in recovery.
Escairo faces charges of two counts of assaulting a peace officer, two counts of attempted murder, one count of aggravated assault involving a peace officer, four counts of failing to comply with a release order, and one count of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, according to police.
Escairo stabbed Mahal, who then shot the assailant, a representative from the SIU told True North.
The assault was the third attack on a Toronto police officer in a three day span.
According to a spokesperson for the Special Investigations Unit, police were called and were attempting to apprehend Escairo under the Mental Health Act. The SIU is called whenever a crime involves a police officer discharging their weapon, causing death or serious injury.
Aside from being charged with four counts of failing to comply with a release order, Escairo’s social media shows he made his previous encounters with police public.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CeEVFlCjTHB/
CPC MP Rob Moore, Canada’s shadow minister for justice, posted on X after learning the repeat offender was out on bail.
“Every day, Canadians are seeing the impacts of the dangerous catch-and-release system the Liberals created with bills C-75 & C-5,” he said. “Conservatives will repeal Trudeau’s weak crime laws and bring jail, not bail, for repeat violent offenders.”
https://twitter.com/RobMoore_CPC/status/1779910150599434327
One of the changes that Bill C-5 brought in was getting rid of mandatory minimum sentences for crimes, which the government has said was intended to reduce instances where sentences might be considered disproportionately harsh.
Critics of Bill C-75 say it encourages more flexible responses to breaches of bail conditions.
True North reached out to Moore and Kyle Seeback the Conservative MP for Dufferin—Caledon, the riding where the incident took place, but both did not respond before the given deadline.