Mike Baker

Instead, authorities believe some of these young recruits are functioning as disposable contractors inside a criminal network, carrying out assignments for people they may never meet.

The targets, meanwhile, don't appear to be random.

Gunfire and arson attacks have repeatedly struck synagogues and other Jewish institutions in Toronto and elsewhere in Canada over the past several months.

While those attacks have not resulted in fatalities, investigators say the pattern suggests an effort to intimidate and spread fear.

Toronto police are now working alongside the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the FBI to identify the individuals financing and directing the attacks, and the investigation now has turned deadly.

Last week, a Toronto police constable was killed during a raid connected to the case.

Authorities say the shooter, 19-year-old Nicholas Bennett, was also shot during the operation and remains hospitalized.

He's expected to face a first-degree murder charge.

One of the most high-profile incidents tied to this investigation was the March shooting at the U.S.

consulate in Toronto, where gunfire struck the diplomatic facility and raised concerns that the attacks had expanded beyond local Jewish institutions.

Investigators now are currently searching for an individual, 19-year-old Zahra Jabi, who is wanted in connection with the shooting at the U.S.

consulate.

And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Friday, the 19th of June.

If you have any questions or comments, and I hope you do, just reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com.

And as we mentioned earlier in the show, we have just launched a brand new premium podcast series that we call the PDB Dictator Files.

Our first episode explores what could be the world's strangest dictatorship.

That would, of course, would be Turkmenistan.

You can check out the episode and become a premium member today at pdbpremium.com.

And finally, of course, today being Friday, and I do have it on good authority that it is, in fact, Friday, a brand new episode of our extended weekend show, The PDB Situation Report hits the airwaves this evening at 10 p.m.

on The First TV.