Three theatres in Canada’s Toronto that played Hindi movies were attacked this week, according to police. Several moviegoers were evacuated after masked men stormed into the theatres and sprayed an unknown substance.
One of the incidents happened around 9.20 pm on Tuesday at a cinema complex in Vaughan, York Regional Police said in a statement.
Several people in the audience started coughing after the attackers sprayed an “unknown, aerosol-based, irritating substance into the air” in a theatre, police said.
“Two male suspects wearing masks and hoods had attended the cinema, entered the theatre after the movie began, and then walked around and sprayed an unknown, aerosol-based, irritating substance into the air. The suspects fled before police arrival,” York Regional Police said.
Around 200 people were inside when a Hindi film was playing at the time.
Investigation into the incident is still on and police have released photos of the suspects.
Update: New suspect photos have been released after an unknown substance was sprayed in a Vaughan cinema on the evening of December 5th. Similar incidents occurred at other locations in Toronto and Brampton that same evening.
More details at this link:https://t.co/4KR4bxumFl pic.twitter.com/ERdtwdnc9l
— York Regional Police (@YRP) December 7, 2023
York police said they were liaising with both Peel and Toronto police about similar incidents that happened this week, CBC News reported.
“Coincidentally, they took place all within less than three hours on the same evening,” a York police officer said on Wednesday.
“So we are certainly looking into the possibility that these incidents are linked.” Peel police confirmed in a statement that officers were called to a theatre in Brampton on Tuesday following reports of some sort of substance sprayed on the premises.
Toronto police said officers got a call on Tuesday night about someone setting off a “stink bomb” in a theatre at Scarborough Town Centre.
The theatre was evacuated and no injuries were reported.
