Guns in Toronto shootout, Hamilton killing linked to U.S. trucker’s smuggling scheme

A former trucker from Florida has been sentenced to more than four years in U.S. prison after smuggling handguns into Canada that were later recovered at 10 crime scenes in Ontario and Quebec, and linked to two killings.

Court documents reviewed by CBC News provide a rare glimpse into a cross-border pipeline for crime guns.

The scheme saw U.S. firearms purchased legally, then transported up to 2,000 kilometres north to be re-sold to a Canadian trafficker for the retail price of the gun, plus a $1,000 fee for each weapon.

One of the weapons was found in Toronto after what police described as a “reckless” shootout in November 2024 that they said highlighted the “real and present danger” posed by illegal firearms. 

This is far from an isolated case. Toronto police told CBC News via email that among the crime guns seized in the city last year and traced to date, 86 per cent came from the U.S.

The Florida-based smuggler, 35-year-old Erhan John Er, previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic firearms and was sentenced earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Tampa. 

Prosecutors said that in the summer of 2022, Er bought 28 guns from firearms dealers in the state and moved them all across the border, only to sell them to his unnamed Canadian co-conspirator. 

Eighteen of those weapons remain unaccounted for. 

According to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Er answered “yes” when asked on federal purchase forms whether he was the legitimate buyer of the guns.

“Er falsely claimed to gun dealers that he was buying guns for himself, only to smuggle the guns into Canada, where they were used in multiple crimes,” U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe said in a statement.

U.S. court documents show that weapons purchased by Er were recovered at crime scenes across Ontario, from Thunder Bay to York, Durham and Halton regions near Toronto.

Court documents also show Quebec provincial police seized a Glock 45 amid an unspecified homicide probe in May 2023.

Hamilton police recovered a Glock 49 while investigating another killing on June 30, 2024. On that day, investigators said 45-year-old Tobenna (Nnanna) Obiaga was shot in a parked car after an early-morning disturbance at a house party. Obiaga, a father of two with a third on the way, later died in hospital.

And 799 days after Er bought a Glock 27 from a Naples, Fla., firearms retailer, the weapon turned up as Toronto police investigated a high-profile gunfight.

Investigators have said it was a “miracle” no one was killed or injured in the incident on Nov. 11, 2024, which followed a birthday party where social media video showed firearms being brandished by several individuals.

WATCH | Trucker linked to guns:

U.S. gun smuggler linked to gun crimes across Ontario, Quebec

A Florida man has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for smuggling guns found at various Canadian crime scenes, including a shoot-out at a Toronto recording studio, CBC News has learned.

Serial numbers had been erased

All the guns seized in the Er case shared a key trait: their serial numbers had been obliterated. 

It was only after authorities managed to restore the serial numbers that they linked the firearms back to the New York-born former trucker who, according to court documents, had previously lived in Toronto.

“Altering or obliterating a firearm’s serial number is often utilized by persons attempting to evade detection,” ATF special agent Joshua Dominguez wrote in the criminal complaint reviewed by CBC. “The methods of obliteration include grinding, scraping, and drilling.”

ATF agents seized a grinder power tool from a Sarasota, Fla., storage unit linked to Er. In the same unit, they found a handwritten ledger, marked “$16,412 Cdn payout” at the bottom.

All the guns recovered from Canadian crime scenes were Glock pistols. But records show Er also tried to acquire even more firepower.

In July 2022, he logged on to the website of a Naples, Fla., gun dealer and sought to buy four Century Arms Mini Draco semi-automatic firearms — a Romanian-built pistol that holds a 30-round magazine.

Glorified in rap music, the Mini Draco bears similarities to the infamous Kalashnikov rifle, also known as the AK-47.

“The attempted purchase was flagged as suspicious and never took place,” Er’s plea agreement reads.

Er’s co-conspirator — the Canadian who paid him $1,000 fee for each gun he smuggled — is only identified as “Person-1” in the plea agreement. The unnamed suspect has not been charged.

Kehoe, the Tampa-based prosecutor told CBC the matter “continues to be under investigation, with regard to that individual.”

Angie Sloan, a spokesperson for the Ontario Provincial Police, said the agency “reviews all information and evidence provided and investigates matters thoroughly, laying charges when supported by the evidence.”