Peel Regional Police say the victim of a violent ax and machete attack in the driveway of his Brampton home last week had a “safety plan” in place after receiving a death threat just days before the incident.
Supt. Sean Gormley held a press conference Thursday about the Aug. 4 “targeted” accident that left 38-year-old Jyoti Singh Mann — a well-known podcast host and real estate agent — with life-threatening injuries.
“We knew the victim had received a death threat a few days ago,” Gormley said.
Read more: Video shows Brampton man attacked in alley by 3 men with axe, machete
“This was under active investigation and is now part of that investigation. And we’re trying to determine if this is related to the incident that happened…
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“A safety plan was put in place with the victim at the time the death threat was reported to us.”
Gormley was asked to clarify exactly what the “safety plan” included and whether it was in place before the attack, but he did not elaborate.
1:46 Video shows a Brampton man being attacked in his driveway by 3 men armed with an ax and a machete. Video shows Brampton man attacked in driveway by three men armed with ax and machete
“I can’t comment specifically on what the safety plan was,” he said.
“Unfortunately, you know, these people, as you can tell from the video, were very motivated to try to do some serious harm to this gentleman.”
Police said they were called at 8:16 a.m. Aug. 4 to the area of Mayfield Road and Hurontario Street after the attack, which investigators believe was an attempted murder.
1:26 Brampton man’s injuries in ax attack ‘life-changing’: police Previous video Next video
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Three suspects, one armed with an ax and another with a machete, fled before police arrived and remain unidentified.
Officials are still trying to identify them.
Mann was taken to a trauma center with non-life threatening injuries.
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Gormley said his injuries were “quite serious” and would change his life.
Security video of the attack was widely circulated in the media on Wednesday.
While officials believe the attack was targeted, Gormley said they are still working to identify a specific motive.
“There are multiple pieces of information that are coming to us that we are looking into, but we have not identified an exact motive,” he said, adding that officers are not sure if the suspects and the victim knew each other.
Gormley said they have no evidence to connect the attack to other incidents in Brampton.
But in response to a reporter’s question about attacks on those in the media, Gormley noted during the press conference that he knew of three incidents in which members of the media had been attacked.
“I can’t say whether … they are related to each other. Freedom of the press, freedom of expression is something we value in our country and it is something we will look at,” he said.
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“The bottom line here is that regardless of the motive, this is an absolutely brutal attack on a gentleman who lives in our community, and we will put all of our resources into identifying those responsible.”
Gormley said officers are also aware of a vehicle that was stolen from the area of the home where the attack took place several months ago. He said officers were looking into whether it was related.
“However, I don’t have the information to say that’s the case,” he said.
Gormley said he wanted to “reassure the public” that officers believe the incident was targeted and Brampton remains a safe city.
He said investigators were continuing to gather evidence and urged anyone with information or video footage related to the incident to contact them.
Police noted that one of the suspects was wearing black clothing with black gloves and a black baseball cap.
The second suspect was wearing black clothing, black shoes with red laces and black gloves.
The third suspect was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, gray sweatpants and black gloves.
Police said all three were wearing surgical masks.
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— With files from Gabby Rodriguez
Help needed with attempted murder investigation – pic.twitter.com/tnUFMbYemg
— Peel Regional Police (@PeelPolice) August 11, 2022
This is Jyoti Singh Mann, who remains in hospital after being attacked by three men in his Brampton driveway. His mother and son spoke to Global News voluntarily, but I deleted their photo from my feed after the family said they feared for the boy’s safety. pic.twitter.com/732kOGaIrq
— Global News SOS (@ConsumerSOS) August 11, 2022
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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