‘Just trust us’ is a bad police communications strategy

The Globe and Mail · Robyn Urback · 2026-11-03 18:18 UTC

The Bridle Path home invasion suspect’s departure from the hospital raises questions about whether the law failed Torontonians, or the police

It may be that Toronto police did everything they could when they encountered Daijohn Richards in a hospital in the early hours of Oct. 29.

Mr. Richards has since been identified as a suspect in the home invasion that night in Toronto’s Bridle Path, which left four family members injured – three with gunshot wounds. But at 4:15 a.m., which is when he walked himself into St. Joseph’s Health Centre, he was just a man with a gunshot wound to his shoulder.

Though investigators “immediately recognized the potential connection,” according to a subsequent police statement, “recognizing a potential suspect and having enough evidence to arrest them are two different things.” So Mr. Richards left the hospital at 9:05 a.m. There is now a Canada-wide warrant out for his arrest.

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