A Belleville synagogue held its Kabbalat Shabbat service for the first time since a hate-motivated shootout on October 5, which occurred during preparations for Yom Kippur. During the incident, a lone gunman, Sean Ward, age 29 and a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces, exchanged fire with police; one officer was injured while Ward died shortly after from his injuries. No other casualties were reported, though the synagogue sustained damage including bullet holes in its stained-glass window. The community is working through trauma as congregants returned to the building for prayer, emphasizing resilience and solidarity against hate.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-26,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Nearly every other Friday for the past 70 years, the Sons of Jacob congregation has gathered inside a small Belleville synagogue for a Kabbalat Shabbat service.
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congregation → gather → service
The ceremony, a traditional service that welcomes the Jewish Sabbath before sundown on Friday, begins in prayer, often led by a rabbi brought in from out of town.
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that → welcome → town
Then, the congregation — no more than 20 to 30 people on any given night — shares a meal.
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congregation → give → meal
“This place, it’s a place of community, of safety,” Norman Weddum, the synagogue’s volunteer president, told the Star.
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Weddum → ’ → Star
Congregants tried to rebuild that same sense of safety Friday as they walked into the synagogue, many visibly emotional.
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many → try → synagogue
For some, it was the first time they had returned to the building since it was riddled with bullets amid a shootout between a lone gunman and police on the eve of Yom Kippur last Sunday.
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it → return → Kippur
At first, Weddum chalked the noise up to what he thought were firecrackers.
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he → chalk → noise
But as the shots persisted, one after another, he realized what was happening and sprang into action, pulling the synagogue’s large wooden doors closed and directing community members to take cover on the floor.
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what → persist → floor
Bullets pierced the stained-glass window depicting the 12 Tribes of Israel and flew over the congregants’ heads as they huddled together.
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they → pierce → heads
In a video shared by police, the gunman, 29-year-old Sean Ward, a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces, can be heard shouting, “You are going to die for the Jews.”
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You → share → Jews
Ward, who police say arrived at the synagogue with a shotgun, a stockpile of ammunition and gasoline, was met by plainclothes officers routinely deployed outside the synagogue.
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police → say → synagogue
Police and the suspect traded gunfire — 20 or 30 shots, by witness accounts.
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Police → trade → accounts
Both Ward and a Belleville police officer, Const. Jeff Smith, were shot in the exchange.
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Ward → shoot → exchange
Ward died Monday, and Smith remains in the hospital.
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Smith → die → hospital
No one else was struck in the crossfire.
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one → strike → crossfire
“It’s something you never want to see,” an officer, who was not permitted to speak on the record, said of the incident.
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who → ’ → incident
“It weighs on us all in different ways, but we’re all carrying that weight.”
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we → weigh → weight
The shooting is now under investigation by Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit, an arm’s-length agency that probes police interactions resulting in death or serious injury.
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that → probe → death
“Of course there is trauma,” Weddum said, hours before the scheduled Kabbalat Shabbat service on Friday.
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Weddum → be → Friday
“But we’re going to get these people back into the Shul, into the synagogue, and hopefully that begins the healing process.”
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that → go → process
Neighbours are moving through the healing process as well.
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Neighbours → move → process
Across the street from the synagogue, Emma Elson took stock of her home.
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Elson → take → home
She and her partner, Luke Campbell, have been staying with family since their house was hit dozens of times in the crossfire.
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house → stay → crossfire
Elson, a youth worker who enjoys knitting in her spare time, was sitting down to reorganize her yarn stash when she noticed a truck pull up across the street.
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truck → enjoy → street
A few seconds later, the first bullet pierced her front room.
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bullet → pierce → room
“We grabbed our two dogs and ran into the back (of the house) and got on the floor,” Elson recalled.
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Elson → grab → floor
“I don’t know how long we sat there listening to the shots.”
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we → know → shots
When they emerged, shards of glass littered the floors.
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shards → emerge → floors
Their home had been hit with more than 20 bullets, and their vehicle had also been struck.
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vehicle → hit → bullets
In the days since, the couple has had trouble sleeping — the “what-ifs” replaying in their minds.
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ifs → have → minds
“That’s the worst part,” Campbell said.
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Campbell → ’ → ?
“What if we’d left our front door open, like we usually do?
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we → leave → door
Or if our dogs had been sleeping in their favourite spot, in front of the window in the front room?
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dogs → sleep → room
Campbell says he is waiting to enlist in counselling offered by Belleville’s Victim Services agency, “but (they’re) just so overloaded,” he doesn’t know when he’ll get a spot.
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he → say → spot
“When you’re not the target of something like this, you feel bad asking for support.
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you → ’re → support
You don’t want to overshadow what happened,” Elson said.
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Elson → want → ?
“But at the same time, it would be really nice to have that recognition that we were still affected really heavily.”
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we → have → recognition
For Weddum, the video and investigators’ determination that the shooting was hate-motivated helped clarify what had happened amid online speculation.
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what → motivate → speculation
“When this happened originally, some of the news reports were saying it happened outside or away from the synagogue, or that it had nothing to do with the synagogue.
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it → happen → synagogue
I think that’s something people need to know,” Weddum said.
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Weddum → think → ?
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
