Teen who fired on two Toronto-area synagogues gets 2 years. He was paid to do it, and the people who paid him are still unknown

A teenager who opened fire on two Toronto-area synagogues in March was sentenced Tuesday to two years in custody plus one year of community supervision. That is the maximum Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act allows for these offenses, JNS reports, citing Jewish groups.

The shooter was 17 at the time and pleaded guilty to firearms charges. Canadian law protects his identity. Just before midnight on March 6, shots hit Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto (BAYT) in Vaughan, Ontario, while two people were inside. Just after midnight on March 7, shots hit Shaarei Shomayim in Toronto, which was empty. Both buildings were badly damaged. No one was hurt.

Justice Michael Alexander Townsend called the attacks "planned, calculated and brazen." He said it was only "good luck and good fortune" that no one was hurt.

Court records show the teen was paid to carry out the shootings, according to the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center. The people who paid for or directed the attacks, and their motive, have not been identified. Toronto's police chief has tied the shootings to crime-for-hire networks that recruit young people over encrypted apps and pay them to film their attacks.

UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs welcomed the sentence. They said the people who organized and paid for the shootings must also be held accountable.