1 charged in string of GTA cinema shootings, others remain wanted
One man has been arrested in an ongoing investigation into multiple shootings targeting cinemas in the GTA that are believed to be connected to a turf war surrounding South Indian-language movies.
On January 24, officers were called to a theatre in the Highway 7 and East Beaver Creek area in Richmond Hill after an employee showed up to work and discovered the glass doors at the front entrance had been shattered by bullets.
A similar incident occurred on the same day at a Vaughan cinema near Highway 7 and Weston Road. Two more cinema shootings occurred in Toronto and Peel Region on the same night.
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On Tuesday, police arrested 27-year-old Andrew Douglas of Markham. He faces over 20 charges, including four counts of discharging a firearm, one count of weapons dangerous and four counts of careless use of a firearm, among other related offences.
Investigators believe the same suspects are responsible for all four shootings and say they used the exact vehicle in each instance.
No injuries were reported, and the cinemas were all closed at the time of the shootings, which are being linked to a turf war with a group attempting to prevent various South Indian-language movies from being shown in favour of other films.
The frightening gunfire prompted Cineplex to pull a South Indian film.
After the January shootings, Michelle Saba, Vice President of Communications for Cineplex, told CityNews that “due to circumstances beyond our control,” the theatres would no longer present the film Malaikottai Vaaliban.
