Open this photo in gallery:
A police officer works at the scene of a home invasion in the Bridle Path neighbourhood in Toronto, on Oct. 29.Laura Proctor/The Canadian Press
Toronto’s police chief says there was “no failure” when officers did not detain a man in hospital with a gunshot wound who was later identified as a suspect in a violent home invasion that injured a family of four.
The man, who left the hospital, is now the subject of a Canada-wide warrant in connection with the early-morning robbery last Thursday in Toronto’s Bridle Path neighbourhood, one of the city’s wealthiest areas. Police say masked assailants shot three members of the family and attacked another with a hammer.
Police revealed over the weekend that the suspect ended up in hospital just hours after the attack. Officers confronted the man in hospital but did not detain or arrest him. Investigators say they now believe he was accidentally shot by one of the other home invasion suspects.
Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said the officers could not have detained the man because they lacked evidence and did not know at the time that any of the suspects in the home invasion had a gunshot wound. The man was in the hospital for just a few hours before he was discharged.
“From my perspective, there has been no failure,” Chief Demkiw told reporters at a news conference on Monday. “There has been nothing but exceptional policework.”
Toronto police identify one suspect in Bridle Path home invasion
Police now say the man who was in hospital, identified as 23-year-old Daijohn Richards, is wanted and should be considered armed and dangerous. He has a gunshot wound to the right shoulder, police said.
Chief Demkiw said there was no information in the hours after the attack that any of the suspects had been shot.
“The home invasion happens in the middle of the night and a short time – a very short time – later an individual shows up in the hospital with a gunshot wound,” the chief said.
“What’s important to note is that in the home invasion investigation there is no information that suggested to investigators an assailant had been shot.”
The home invasion robbery has drawn attention to an increase in such crimes in Toronto. Shootings and homicides have dramatically declined in the city in 2025 and 2026. But police say Toronto has had 119 home invasions in 2026, up 35 per cent from the same time last year.
Family traumatized after violent Bridle Path home invasion, injured father says
The victims are real estate executive David Morton, 75; his wife Doriana Zohil-Morton, 64; and the couple’s two adult daughters in their 20s, Cristina and Maggie.
Police were called to the hospital because that is the standard protocol when someone is treated for gunshot wounds.
In Ontario, such ground rules are spelled out in the 2005 Mandatory Gunshot Wounds Reporting Act. But one legal expert said the law only gives police notifications about hospitalized people, and no heightened ability to detain or interview anyone.
“It doesn’t give police new powers – it doesn’t say that if someone is reported, police can arrest them on reasonable suspicion,“ said Andrew Flavelle Martin, a law professor at Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law.
Three members of family shot, another injured in Bridle Path home invasion
Police previously said they were looking for three suspects. Investigators have said the assailants entered the house through its back entrance while the family was sleeping. The masked men attacked the family as they demanded valuables, police said.
Chief Demkiw said the investigation remains “very active” and is being handled by the force’s best investigators.
“We are following the evidence as it becomes available,” he said. “Had there been evidence to allow us to do something different, that’s what would have happened.”
Police were called to the family’s home on Hyde Park Circle shortly before 4 a.m. on Thursday.
Investigators have said they did not develop grounds for an arrest warrant until Friday evening. On Saturday morning, police publicly identified Mr. Richards as a suspect. He is now wanted for four counts of discharging a firearm with intent to wound, four counts of robbery with a firearm and three counts of aggravated assault.
With files from Kelly Grant