CN Canada News Desk: A veteran Toronto police officer was shot and killed early Thursday morning while executing a search warrant in the city's northwest end, marking the second line-of-duty death of a police officer in Ontario in just three days.
Constable Marc Pinizzotto, 43, was part of a team carrying out a search warrant at a residential apartment building on Martha Eaton Way, in the area of Black Creek Drive and Trethewey Drive, at approximately 5:40 a.m. on Thursday, June 11, 2026. According to the Toronto Police Service, an exchange of gunfire broke out during the operation and Constable Pinizzotto was struck.
He received emergency care from Toronto Tactical Paramedics at the scene and was rushed to Sunnybrook Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Constable Pinizzotto served with the Toronto Police Service for 18 years, including the past five years as a specially trained member of the Emergency Task Force.
Speaking to reporters outside Sunnybrook Hospital, Police Chief Myron Demkiw, visibly moved, said there is a very heavy sorrow across the policing community. The chief confirmed that the search warrant was one of several executed across the city on Thursday morning in connection with a number of shootings in the Greater Toronto Area, including the shooting at the United States Consulate on University Avenue earlier this year in March.
Police say a man considered a suspect was also taken to hospital and remains in custody, while one additional suspect connected to the investigation remains outstanding. Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, the independent agency that probes incidents involving police that result in death or serious injury, has invoked its mandate and is investigating.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, who said she has known the officer's mother for decades, stated that the family's grief is shared across the entire city. Toronto Police Association President Clayton Campbell said officers put their lives on the line every day, calling it a tragedy that Constable Pinizzotto did not return home safely to his family. Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also extended condolences to the officer's loved ones and to all officers in uniform.
Thursday's tragedy comes just two days after Ontario Provincial Police Constable Tarun Bali, a 29-year-old officer raised in Brampton, was killed in the line of duty near Hearst in northern Ontario on June 9. An 18-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in that case. The allegations have not been tested in court.
The deaths of two Ontario police officers within 72 hours have sent shockwaves through the province's law enforcement community and renewed attention on the dangers facing frontline officers. Flags at government buildings across Ontario, already lowered in memory of Constable Bali, now carry the weight of a second loss.
CN Canada extends its deepest condolences to the families of Constable Marc Pinizzotto and Constable Tarun Bali, and to the entire policing community across Ontario.