Chief says not enough evidence to arrest Toronto home invasion suspect in hospital

As Toronto's police chief defended officers' decision not to arrest a suspect in the violent Bridle Path home invasion while he was in hospital, one expert said the arrest would not have held up in court without solid evidence and reasonable grounds.

Chief Myron Demkiw said Monday that not all evidence was available to officers responding to reports of a person who walked into St. Joseph’s Health Centre with a gunshot wound just hours after the home invasion last Thursday. 

Investigators had no information at the time to suggest any of the suspects were shot during the attack on a family of four in the affluent neighbourhood, he said. 

“They responded to the hospital as they would when people walk into the hospital with a gunshot wound, which happens in the city from time to time,” Demkiw said at an unrelated press conference. “They advanced the investigation with the speed and flow that was available to them given the circumstances.”

Toronto police have identified 23-year-old Daijohn Richards as one of three suspects in the home invasion. 

They believe he was accidentally shot in his right shoulder by one of the other suspects. He later walked into the west-end hospital where he had interactions with police officers, Toronto police Insp. Kristy Smith told a news conference Saturday morning.

Richards was discharged from the hospital early Thursday morning and a Canada-wide warrant was later issued for his arrest.

Police said in a social media post on Saturday that investigators "immediately" recognized the potential connection between the home invasion and the person who showed up at the hospital, but suspicion alone was not enough for them to make an arrest.

Along with the other two unidentified suspects, Richards remains at large and police said all three are considered armed and dangerous. 

Patrick Watson, an assistant professor at the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto, said if police had arrested the suspect before they had all the necessary evidence, it would jeopardize the case and criminal proceedings. 

“Being shot isn’t a crime,” he said. “It doesn’t necessitate any sort of form of criminal intervention.”

It was also unlikely that police had gathered solid evidence in the short hours between the home invasion and the suspect's arrival at the hospital, said Watson. 

“At that stage of the investigation, it would peak the curiosity of investigators but it would be very hard to envision a scenario where they would have had very solid evidence to enact an arrest," he said in an interview.

He said while Toronto police may have asked the right questions, it’s also up to the person being interviewed to provide the information. 

“If the individual who is alleged to have been involved with this was simply not willing to co-operate, that really does hamstring (the police),” he said. “The Charter protects you from unreasonable search and seizure, it protects you from participating in your own conviction.”

Police have said that a mother, father and their two adult daughters were injured when masked intruders forced their way into the home through the rear door, armed with guns and a hammer.

David Morton, CEO of real estate firm MAC Group, said in a statement on Friday that three members of his family were shot and all four were attacked with the hammer. 

Morton said the family is focused on recovery and supporting one another.

“No family should ever have to experience this. People should be able to sleep peacefully in their homes without fear of armed individuals breaking in and threatening their lives,” he wrote in his statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2026.

By Sadeen Mohsen | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.