26 stories of courage and compassion
Amid the horror on Yonge Street were dozens of people who rushed in to administer CPR, hold a trembling hand and comfort strangers. These are the tales of Toronto the Good
For every life taken, for every body broken, for every spirit forever altered by a collision with the white rental van that left a trail of destruction on Yonge St. Monday afternoon, there was a flash of goodwill.
A hand held as life drained away, a police officer consoling a shaken bystander, strangers giving blood or offering bottled water and granola bars, a faraway community feeling Toronto’s pain and raising funds to help.
These 26 tales from Toronto the Good won’t bring back the dead, nor will they heal the physical hurt.
But shining a light on those who responded to the chaos with courage and kindness may serve as an emotional balm for this city’s wounded soul.
Patrick Savoy: The pedestrian who chased the careering van
Patrick Savoy was on a walk near North York City Centre on Monday when he saw the white van barrelling down the sidewalk.
He figured the driver didn’t realize he had mounted the curb and began chasing him, yelling at him to get off the sidewalk.
The van accelerated, and Savoy realized the driver was about to hit multiple pedestrians. He called 911.
“I thought it’s just a complete moron or maniac. I didn’t know that he had started up at Yonge and Finch.”
When the van sped off, he turned back to help the victims — one of whom he later recognized as Dorothy Sewell, after seeing her photo in the media.
“I started talking to her, seeing if she was conscious, took her pulse,” he said. Savoy was joined by Roula Massin, and the pair began performing CPR.
Savoy said police and paramedics arrived at quickly.
“I can’t say enough good things about the police and the fire (services),” he said. “Everybody involved was really good.”
Abdellah Massaoudi: The ‘regular guy’ who used his belt as a tourniquet
Abdellah Massaoudi is a market analyst with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., which has offices at Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave. He was midway through his lunchtime walk when the van blasted through the intersection at Empress Ave.
“I was waiting for the light to change. That’s when the van struck people and I could see them flying in the air,” he said. “It was going so quickly and it hit them very, very hard.”
It was 1:26 p.m. Massaoudi tried to call 911, but the line was busy. He jumped into the street, toward the victims. An older woman with white hair and a blue jacket who was closest to him was injured and bleeding heavily.
“I think the van had run over her. Her legs were smashed. It was a very bad scene,” he said.
A man was already crouched down beside the woman and cried out, “Belt, belt, belt!” Massaoudi said. The man had cinched his own belt around one leg, using it as a tourniquet that he secured just above the woman’s knee. Massaoudi’s belt went around the other leg.
Another woman, who looked to be in her 30s, was lying about ametre away, drifting in and out of consciousness. Massaoudi, who is trained in first aid, went to her side. She was in pain, with injuries to her leg and stomach.
“I talked to her so she could stay awake. At the same time I’m keeping my finger on her pulse,” he said. A man who he thinks was the woman’s friend had suffered head injuries and tried to stand up, but Massaoudi shouted to those helping him to keep him on the ground until paramedics arrived, thinking he was probably in shock.
Paramedics, firefighters and police arrived quickly on the scene and took over. About 25 minutes later, Massaoudi was walking back toward work, dazed by what he had just experienced.
News of the carnage had not yet emerged. Back at the office, Massaoudi told a friend and the word spread. His manager offered him support and suggested he take the rest of the day off, but he opted to stay and keep his mind occupied.
“I’m just a regular guy who, by coincidence, was there. Anybody who was there would do the same thing as me,” he said.
Nana Agyeman-Badu: The taxi driver who ran to help a victim
Taxi driver Nana Agyeman-Badu had just dropped off a woman at 5444 Yonge St. when he saw the van driving south on the sidewalk.
At first he thought the driver might have had a heart attack or fallen asleep, but he caught a glimpse of him and said he seemed “serious” and was controlling the wheel.
He watched as the van struck a hydrant and two pedestrians without slowing down. Then, just north of Horsham Ave., the van hit a woman and knocked her into a bus shelter. “The glass broke and fell onto her,” he said.
Agyeman-Badu stopped his van and ran toward the woman, along with another bystander. Together they tried to clear the glass from her face and hands. She was unconscious but breathing, he said, so he started to perform CPR.
“Every cab driver in this city knows how to do CPR,” he said. “I thought I could help in that situation.”
At one point he saw a police car heading toward them, so he ran into the street and flagged the officer down. “He said to me, ‘An ambulance is coming, but where is the van?’ ”
Agyeman-Badu pointed south and then returned to the woman. A firefighter arrived, and the woman opened her eyes and started asking what had happened. Agyeman-Badu said he was relieved to see the woman was awake and able to speak. “But she didn’t know where she was or what happened to her.”
Chris Moise: The school trustee who directed traffic so ambulances could get to the victims
Toronto District School Board trustee Chris Moise, a one-time police officer and former health-care worker, rushed out of the board’s offices on Yonge St. when he heard cries of horror. He found a woman with a large stomach wound. Her body appeared “broken” and she was beyond help, he said.
Moise ran a metre or two to another woman lying on her stomach. He and a TDSB security officer carefully rolled her over and found she had a pulse.
“She still had her salad in her hand. She was (out) for lunch,” Moise said, adding she was gravely injured. They began doing CPR.
Others came to help, so Moise started directing traffic to ensure emergency vehicles could get to the injured as quickly as possible.
The former St. Michael’s Hospital addictions and mental health counsellor doesn’t know what happened to the woman he helped. His TDSB colleagues are now coping with the aftermath of a tragedy on their doorstep. “What a terrible thing,” he said.
Const. Corey SpencerAnderson: The officer who held a bystander’s hand
One of the early images summing up the response to the carnage was captured by CTV Toronto on Monday. It showed a young Toronto police officer seated next to and holding the hand of a terribly shaken bystander.
“This moment right here,” one Twitter user remarked, taking a photo of the TV image and sending it out to the world. “This is Toronto.”
On Wednesday, Toronto police Insp. Peter Moreira identified the officer as Const. Corey Spencer-Anderson of 54 Division, saying the tragedy had touched “all of Toronto and beyond.”
Bruce Jones: The pastor who opened his church to mourners
Bruce Jones, senior pastor at Willowdale Baptist Church, was at home with his wife in Richmond Hill when the attack occurred. They stayed away from the area, on instructions from police.
They arrived first thing Tuesday morning to find the Olive Square Park memorial growing, just steps from their church.
“People were starting to make the pilgrimage,” he said. “We knew that we were going to have to open our doors because we wanted to just simply be there to be a warm place and a warm cup of coffee, a Timbit, or what have you.”
Those doors have been open every day since. A sign near the mountain of flowers at Olive Square tells mourners the church is offering “coffee, rest place, rest rooms, prayer, water.”
“I think everybody is wanting to do whatever they can do,” Jones said. “It’s a simple thing, but the simple things can make a difference.”
Roula Massin: The school board employee who immediately began performing CPR
Roula Massin (shown on front page) was walking back to her office building on Yonge St. around 1:20 p.m. on Monday when she heard “bang, bang, bang” and screaming. Trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, she immediately began providing first aid to victims of the rampage.
Once paramedics took over, the TDSB employee wanted to know whom she had assisted. Two of the people she helped had identification with them, but one — a grandmother — did not.
“All night I was thinking about her,” Massin said.
She eventually recognized the woman as Dorothy Sewell, 80. Massin began to search for Sewell’s family, including a grandson living in British Columbia. On Wednesday night, her phone rang. The caller was from B.C.
“I told him that she went in peace, and that I was with her, and that I prayed for her. I assured him that I was with her,” Massin said, adding that she is planning to meet the grandson in person when he comes to Toronto.
“I’d love to hug him and say I was with her.” Massin said more people should know how to perform CPR. She’s been certified for 17 years, since she joined the school board.
“Everybody should be aware of how you can save lives,” she said. “It should be mandatory.”
Konstantin Goulich: The dental hygienist who set up a memorial at Olive Square Park
Konstantin Goulich, a dental hygienist, came out of his condo at Yonge and Finch to find the road sealed off and two victims lying in the street, the dead covered where they fell.
“It was pretty horrific to see dead bodies lying in the streets that I walk by daily,” he said.
He continued walking, finding more victims and witnesses in distress. He decided then that he had to do something.
“I went to a Dollarama. I picked up some bristol boards and some markers. I wanted to write something and I wanted to give people the opportunity to express themselves as well,” he said.
He thought of setting up his markers and paper at Mel Lastman Square, but it was cordoned off by police tape. Instead he went to Olive Square Park — the only gathering place in the area that was accessible to the public. He wrote his own message first, then invited others crowded around to share their thoughts and feelings. People were reluctant at first.
“Some people didn’t really speak the language. A lot of people were immigrants … so I had to encourage them to write something in their own language,” he said.
The park, at the southeast corner of Yonge and Finch, has become a gathering point for vigils, group prayers and those expressing their condolences for the victims of the tragedy.
“Somebody had to do something. We’ve all been affected by this horrible event,” Goulich said. “You cannot start the healing process, you can’t start approaching the problems without acknowledging what you feel.”
Danielle Webb and Amelia: The mother-daughter duo who became the helpers to look for
Danielle Webb and her 3-yearold daughter, Amelia, live on Horsham Ave. near Beecroft Rd. Danielle’s father, Neal, visiting from Fort Frances, Ont., saw the devastation when he went out to the supermarket at Yonge St. and Church Ave.
With Yonge St. closed and subway stations shuttered, rush hour on Monday came to their front lawn.
“You could see it on their faces. People were exhausted, they were tired. There were some that were crying,” Webb said.
“It was one of those moments where you couldn’t help what was happening on Yonge St., but you could help these people, so that’s exactly what we decided to do.”
Little Amelia had recently celebrated her birthday and there was a stash of bottled water, juice boxes and granola bars left over from the party. Webb had baked cookies the previous night.
“We grabbed everything — fruit, snacks, everything — and we crossed the street and just started handing stuff out,” she said. “When we ran out of things, other local neighbours started bringing us waters. It was a community thing.”
Webb added: “I’m a school teacher, and one of the things we tell kids when something bad happens is that you look for the helpers. I wanted Amelia to know that there are helpers out there and she could be one in a time of need. She thought it was fantastic.”
The small gesture was warmly received. “Amazing Canada: This thoughtful couple with their adorable daughter offering water to people trudging along Beecroft Road, as Sheppard Station is closed due to the tragedy at Finch-Yonge,” Yadullah Hussain, a journalist with the Financial Post, wrote on Twitter. “I was a grateful recipient of their generosity. Thank you!”
The post prompted a flood of gratitude.
“Good outweighs bad but it is sometimes hard to remember. Thanks for posting this & thanks to the people doing this,” another Twitter user wrote.
Webb responded: “We’re happy to help.”
Dan Fox: The condo resident who urged buildings to open their doors
Dan Fox, who lives and works in the Yonge and Sheppard area, was out for lunch Monday when he saw the police cars and ambulances racing by. After he learned what happened, he said he was “scared and shaken up,” having walked up and down those sidewalks frequently.
He knew he wasn’t the only one panicking. “All these condo buildings, there’s a lot of people who live alone, and when something like this happens, people need to be together and comfort each other,” said Fox, who lives alone on Bales Ave., just south of where the driver of the white van was arrested Monday.
“All the street closures, the emergency vehicles around, it’s a kind of trauma.”
After talking with a few of his close friends, Fox said they persuaded building management to sidestep the usual bureaucracy and open the condo’s common area. As soon as a sign went up by the elevators Monday evening, people started coming in. They ordered pizza. “The mood was sombre and subdued. We were just there talking about what happened and how we were feeling,” Fox said.
They’ve gathered every evening this week, and watched the hockey game together Wednesday night.
Fox and his friends have reached out to other buildings and condo boards in the area, asking them to keep their common spaces open.
“There’s still a lot of anxiety,” he said.
Emily Fung: The volunteer in the ‘Citizen of Toronto’ sweatshirt
Emily Fung walked by the scene about 10 minutes after the van rampage, on her way to Finch station to get to an appointment.
She didn’t know what had happened and thought it was an accident. Maybe someone’s brakes had failed.
“I just saw people on the ground and ambulances rushing in,” she recalled.
She was horrified to learn it was deliberate, according to police, and that so many had died.
She’s since been volunteering at Willowdale Baptist Church, “manning the coffee” and passing out water and cookies, clad in a black “Citizen of Toronto” sweatshirt.
“I just love our community,” she said. “I know people are hurting.” Matthew Blackett: The magazine publisher who created the ‘Yonge and Strong’ logo Matthew Blackett lives in the west end of Toronto and works in the downtown core, where he runs Spacing magazine and its retail store. But he grew up in Willowdale, near where Monday’s violence occurred, and his mother still lives in the area. Another staff member from the magazine was in the vicinity, visiting his parents, and missed the van by just a few minutes.
So Blackett was affected when he heard about the incident. When the casualties were tallied, he was stunned.
“People have different ways of coping. Art and graphic design was mine,” he said.
He designed the “Yonge and Strong” logo that began circulating on social media, a play both on “Yonge and Finch” and “young and strong.” He set the white letters, using a TTC font, against a Maple Leafs-blue background. It took him 10 minutes to create. He intended it to be something for his friends from the neighbourhood.
It took off quickly. By Tuesday, it had morphed into #YongeandStrong, one of several hashtag communities on social media. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley was using it, as was Toronto MP Adam Vaughan.
Blackett spent part of the past week crowdsourcing translations of his slogan and designing fonts for more than a dozen different languages.
“Initially I was just thinking about Persian and Chinese and Korean because of that neighbourhood up there,” he said. He’s also got versions in Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian and Hebrew.
Blackett is going to put the logo on buttons that he plans to sell at the Spacing store. Proceeds will go to the #TorontoStrong Fund for victims.
Entripy: The company that created #TorontoStrong T-shirts to support victims
When #TorontoStrong started trending online after Monday’s van rampage, Oakville-based clothing company Entripy felt it could do something to help those affected by the tragedy.
By Tuesday, the company had already designed and produced a prototype of T-shirts featuring a Toronto skyline with the words #TorontoStrong.
Company spokesperson Lisa Evans said an external firm will be brought in to ensure all proceeds from sales of the shirts go to victims’ families. As of Friday, “we have surpassed 1,000 Tshirts sold and have raised over $20,000,” she said.
The goal is to reach at least $100,000.
Korean Canadian Cultural Association: The group helping victims’ families coming from abroad
Almost from the start — before the full impact of the tragedy on the Korean community in and around Yonge and Finch was known — the Korean Canadian Cultural Association knew it would be required to step up.
“We worked together with the consul general of (South) Korea with the understanding that we would be ... on the front line, if you will — taking charge of the whole organization of this, along with other Korean organizations,” said vice-president Will Cho.
“Something had to be done and we thought that this was the time, and so we’re getting the ball rolling,” Cho said.
Two South Korean nationals were confirmed killed in Monday’s rampage. Up to three others are believed to have been injured. Without going into details about the numbers or identities, Cho said three people are international visa students.
The association has been busy co-ordinating with other groups in the Toronto area, offering transportation to the families of victims arriving in Canada from abroad, arranging their stay in hotels, providing translators and offering professional counselling if needed.
“We’re all in this together,” Cho said. “We all want to partake and contribute as much as we can.”
Unnamed video journalist: The stranger who offered a hug when it was needed
On Tuesday afternoon, residents in the area gathered to share their stories and express their shock and grief.
An older woman was standing beside a video journalist who listened as she told a Global News television crew that she came across the crash scene when she decided to walk to Shoppers Drug Mart.
“It was so beautiful that I couldn’t be bothered getting my car, so I said, ‘I’ll do it tomorrow,’ ” she said, before her voice wavered.
As she became emotional, the journalist — as if it was the most natural thing in the world — pulled her toward him and rest- ed his head upon hers.
What he said isn’t entirely clear in the video, but it sounds something like: “I’m glad nothing happened to you.”
“I know,” she replied, “but my heart’s breaking. Thank you for the hug.”
Saint of Starbucks: The stranger who paid it forward
The grief had spread through Toronto, across the country and around the world by Tuesday morning. Twelve kilometres away from the site of the tragedy, a Starbucks customer decided to make a gesture of generosity.
One man took to Twitter to express his gratitude.
“Thank you to the stranger who bought coffee for everyone in line this morning @Starbucks at Laird and Wicksteed in #Toronto. A great reminder to be a little nicer to everyone today #TorontoTheGood.”
The blood donors who shattered records
The day after the van rampage, visitors to Canadian Blood Services’ College St. clinic shattered the donation target of 32 units, with a total of 63.
The next day, Wednesday, saw 70 donated units, far more than the target of 48.
The clinic at Heartland Town Centre in Mississauga has also seen a surge in donors.
“We’ve definitely noticed an increase, especially at the three downtown Toronto clinics,” said Michael Betel, the agency’s director of donor relations, noting a particular increase in firsttime visitors.
“We’re incredibly grateful for current donors and the new donors who have come forward to help. People want to feel like they’ve done something that they can control, to help.”
Staff at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, where many of the injured arrived and are being treated, urged people to donate blood. Canadian Blood Services did not.
“It’s a hard line to ride,” Betel said. “We need the blood for sure, and we want people to come in, but we don’t want to be seen as taking advantage of the situation either.”
While a typical car crash victim requires 50 units of blood, the system was able to handle the added burden without strain. That would not be possible, Betel said, if healthy Torontonians did not step forward and offer to help.
“We do have those emergency situations that remind us that things can change in an instant,” he said. “You always need to be ready.”
Red Cross Toronto division: The team that quickly set up a support centre
Sunny Kler and her disaster management team at the Red Cross Toronto region division were alerted and dispatched by the city to help. They were on the scene and setting up an evacuation and support hub a few blocks from the crash site within two hours.
They made their home base at Mitchell Field Community Centre, on Church Ave., just east of Yonge St. They blocked off space in the centre for the rest of the day so that those who needed it could have a private, safe place to go and people to talk to.
Volunteer Malcolm Kendall said the day went fast, and was very different from what they do on a regular basis.
Future saviours: The residents signing up for CPR courses
The good works of bystanders at the scene who jumped in to perform CPR have prompted an increased demand for training, said Andrew Sekhavati of Coast2Coast First Aid and Aquatics.
“We do have actually a lot of people coming in and calling, asking for responder courses,” he said. “It seems like it is having an impact and everyone’s just kind of noticing, maybe we should know this stuff.”
Nick Rondinelli, CEO of Heart to Heart First Aid/CPR, said he has also noticed an increase in walk-in visits, especially from ordinary people who don’t have any professional reason to take the training.
Sekhavati was inspired to organize a free CPR training in downtown Toronto, which he hopes to hold in the coming weeks.
Maria Vecchiarelluii and Laura Novello: The teachers who help their students heal with song
Dozens of students from St. Edward Catholic School gathered at Mel Lastman Square on Thursday morning to honour a Grade 7 teacher who’d lost her sister in Monday’s attack.
The students, including several with special needs, sang the prayer of St. Francis. Their teachers, Maria Vecchiarelluii and Laura Novello, said the song reflected a wish for peace and sent a message of acceptance across the city.
Vecchiarelluii, Novello and their co-workers had been helping the young students make sense of a tragedy that occurred just a few blocks away from the school. They said they received full support from their school and the board.
“With kids, it is difficult when we’re dealing with these things … we want to make sure that they stay safe,” Vecchiarelluii said. The group on Thursday ranged from grades 6 to 8, and included the Grade 7 students taught by Frances D’Amico.
D’Amico’s sister, Anne Marie, was killed in the attack.
“The students have had time to reflect on this, and they have been very strong and very brave. I’m just very proud,” Vecchiarelluii said.
While they sang, their teachers paid attention to each student, noting if any became overwhelmed with emotion, and gauging when it was time to guide them back to school.
“We want to share the message of kindness,” Novello said.
Dilmi De Silva: The youth group member who started a fundraiser for a victim’s 6-year-old son
Along with members of the Lotus Youth Council, a Buddhist group, Dilmi De Silva, 20, started a GoFundMe campaign for Diyon, the 6-year-old son of single mother Renuka Amarasingha, who was killed Monday.
They started with the goal of raising $30,000. When they hit that target, they changed it to $75,000. By Saturday evening, the fundraiser had collected more than $315,000 in donations. The money will go into a trust fund for Diyon.
“He’s so young. Now he has enough funding for education,” said De Silva, a student at the University of Toronto.
Donations have come in from across the country.
“This victim, she left behind such a precious child. I think that caught attention from everybody,” said De Silva.
Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec: The mosque attacked in 2017 that’s now raising money for Toronto van victims
Members of the Quebec City mosque that was targeted in January 2017 by convicted killer Alexandre Bissonnette were stunned and re-traumatized by Monday’s rampage in Toronto. Even more so as some of the families of the mosque shooting victims travelled to the GTA over the past year for events organized by local Muslims.
“It affects us enormously,” said Mohamed Labidi, president of the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec.
“It leaves me perplexed and asking so many questions: Will it repeat itself once again? It brings back the worry.”
He said the families of victims will need support from their communities.
Labidi made a $100 donation to one of the online fundraising campaigns on Thursday, but Quebec City Muslims also sought financial contributions from the hundreds of people who attended Friday prayers at the mosque. The proceeds will be presented to the Toronto victims, though the details have not yet been finalized.
“We are very sorry for the families of the victims,” Labidi said.
“There is a sadness at the bottom of our hearts. We have lived through horror and know how much these moments hurt.”
Yigal Rifkind: The lawyer who ran from victim to victim
Yigal Rifkind looked outside his office window, seeing a van drive by and people running. When he went downstairs, he found a friend standing outside, and soon realized what had happened.
“I saw a body on the sidewalk, went over. It was instantly obvious that she was already dead,” the lawyer said. “And we went up to three more and tried to help, but it was obvious that there was nothing we could do.”
Rifkind said it was only once he got back to his office that what he had witnessed began to sink in.
To him, trying to help felt like the natural thing to do.
“If you saw somebody, anybody, on the ground, I feel like anyone would just do that.”
Scotiabank: The bank branch that became a ‘command centre’
Right across the street from Mel Lastman Square, one of the scenes of carnage, the Scotiabank branch at Yonge St. and Hillcrest Ave. opened the doors to its glass-fronted building for police to use as a sort of “command centre,” an officer told the Star. The bank confirmed the branch had been used by police. The space allowed investigators at the heart of the crash scene to co-ordinate the response.
Buddy: The support dog offering a comforting nuzzle
Some needed to talk about the tragedy; others benefited from silent comfort. They got this from a group of St. John Ambulance therapy dogs. On Thursday and Friday, the bright-eyed pups wearing vests and kerchiefs offered warm nuzzles and a moment of peace for passersby shaken by the news.
Buddy, a nearly two-year-old golden retriever who loves sticks and car rides, has been working in the city as a therapy dog for about a year. He normally works with sick people, the elderly, and young students with disabilities.
On Thursday he comforted Marjan Iravani, who witnessed the carnage on Yonge St.
“Thank you for all of their help. Thank you so much,” Iravani said of the dogs, tears in her eyes.
“Dogs communicate in nonverbal ways,” said Buddy’s handler, Barbara Ruhr. “And they assume a lot of the stress.”
Judy Rateau, a Toronto District School Board employee, said the dogs help people forget the trauma they witnessed for a few minutes. “This helps actually, so we can think of something else.”
Darlene Saks: The customer doing a ‘thank-you crawl’ of Yonge and Finch businesses
Pharmaceutical researcher Darlene Saks took to Twitter on Friday to say she was so moved by the kindness of Torontonians that she intended to do her part by paying it back.
“Tonight I’m going to do a thank-you crawl along Yonge and Finch to purchase items at businesses who did acts of kindness after Monday’s van attack,” she wrote.
Among her planned purchases was pizza at Pizza Nova, where franchise owner Franklin Edishou took it upon himself to feed the first responders and emergency personnel. She also said she would buy flowers from Katherine Liu, co-owner of Secret Garden Floral & Gift Boutique, who put free bouquets outside for passersby to take, her attempt to make the world feel better on a dark day.