A Toronto police officer who was shot this week while investigating an alleged robbery was released from hospital and is recovering at home, the service said Friday.
The 29-year-old officer also briefly visited 53 Division, where he works in the major crime unit, to see colleagues before heading home, a police spokesperson said.
On Thursday afternoon, police said Tibor Orgona, 21, was arrested and charged with attempted murder in connection with the shooting.
Orgona and two others, a 22-year-old woman and a youth, also face multiple charges stemming from the robbery investigation, police said.
The shooting happened around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday near the busy corner of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue. The officer was taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
A police source said officers had been watching a parked vehicle they believed to be involved in robberies in the area. The officers waited for hours for someone to return to it, the source said.
When it appeared no one was coming, the officers called a tow truck, according to the source. As they waited for the tow to arrive on scene, several people approached the vehicle, the source said. When the officers attempted to make arrests, gunshots were exchanged and the officer was hit in his abdomen, according to the source.
The person who fired on the officers then fled the area, the source said. Orgona’s name and image was then distributed to police throughout the city, the source added.
Orgona was arrested later Wednesday after 41 Division officers attending Michael Garron Hospital in the east end recognized him, the source said. It is not clear why Orgona was at the hospital, according to the source.
The Special Investigations Unit, which is running its own investigation because an officer discharged their firearm at the scene, said no one had been struck by the officer’s gunfire.
Police confirmed Thursday that Orgona was previously charged with assault with a weapon in Oct. 2023.
Jon Reid, president of the Toronto Police Association, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford both said Orgona was out on bail at the time of Wednesday’s shooting.