VAN MOUNTS SIDEWALK IN TORONTO, HITTING MULTIPLE PEOPLE
Toronto police say nine people are dead and 16 are injured after a van mounted a sidewalk in north Toronto, hitting pedestrians.
Police say the driver of the van has been arrested.
Deputy Chief Peter Yuen says the police force has mobilized “all available resources” as they investigate the incident.
Police are establishing two hotlines - one for victims and their families, and the other for witnesses to call in information related to the incident.
He says the matter is going to be a long investigation with multiple witnesses.
The incident took place at the intersection of Yonge Street and Finch Avenue around 1:30 p.m. The area has been closed to traffic, and transit services in the vicinity have been suspended.
Eye-witnesses to the incident describe a scene of devastation.
Phil Zullo was driving north on Yonge Street early Monday afternoon when he said he observed police chasing a vehicle.
Moments later he said he realized why.
“I must have seen about five, six people being resuscitated by bystanders and by ambulance drivers,” Zullo said. “It was awful. Brutal. Just people everywhere. People - shoes and shirts and ball caps on the floor, and some of the bodies were completely covered by blankets.”
Photos from the scene show paramedics treating several people on a blood-stained sidewalk.
Dainis Cevers said he was driving to pick up a relative at a nearby church when the alleged perpetrator cut in front of him, hit a pedestrian and accelerated.
“The guy flew up all the way to the end of that sidewalk . . . about five or six meters,” Cevers said.
Restaurant manager Noorani Barsat said he raced outside after hearing a commotion to find a badly injured man lying nearby.
“I just ran over there, brought water and a towel to that injured man, but he was unconscious,” Barsat said, adding first responders took about 20 minutes to reach the scene.