Toronto mourns
Tributes pour in after van driver hits 25 pedestrians, killing 10
“I am so sorry for your pain, Rest in Peace”, “Love for All, Hatred for None”.
The flood of messages and flowers line the wall at a memorial near Yonge Street and Finch Avenue West in Toronto, just hours after a fatal van attack took place on Monday.
Ten people were killed and 15 injured when a man driving a rental van plowed through a group of pedestrians at the busy business center in northern Toronto.
The moving tributes came with flowers, candles, tears and broken hearts, as Toronto residents gathered on Tuesday to remember the victims at a park, steps away from where the attack took place.
The Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team held a moment of silence before a game against the Boston Bruins on Monday night.
The Toronto Sign at Nathan Phillips Square has been dimmed and the official flags at Toronto City Hall, all civic centers and Metro Hall were flown at half-mast on Tuesday.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor John Tory placed flowers at the memorial in the morning.
The premier placed a message at the memorial that read: “It is so very hard in these moments to find the right words — words that will comfort. Please know that you have been loved and are loved.”
Tory addressed the city council and said investigators will leave “no stone unturned” in their efforts to find out what happened and why.
Alek Minassian, 25, of Richmond Hill, Ontario, was arrested after a white van he was driving left a trail of death and injury.
He has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder.
On Tuesday, police said little about any possible motive the suspect may have had, but did refer to a “cryptic” message posted on Minassian’s Facebook page moments before the attack mentioning “pure carnage”.
The post referred to the “Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger”. Rodger was the 22-year-old Californian man responsible for a deadly rampage in Isla Vista, California, in 2014 that left six people dead and a dozen wounded.
A ‘national hero’
Ken Lam, a Chinese-Canadian police officer, who arrested the alleged killer van driver, was called a “hero” after taking down the suspect without gunfire.
“He’s a hero,” said Toronto Police Association president Mike McCormack. “Not just a Toronto hero, but a national hero.”
According to media reports, were it not for that officer in a situation where there were already far too many dead, there could very easily have been more killed.
“Thanks to a cool, calm and amazing Toronto police officer, an accused man is in custody and not in the morgue,” one commentator said.
Earlier on Tuesday, one of the people killed in the attack was identified as Anne Marie D’Amico. Since then three foreign nationals have also been confirmed dead: Two from the Republic of Korea and one from Jordan. Among the injured list, there is a Chinese name — Yunsheng Tian.
Police said the probe into the attack will take time as investigators appeal for information to help identify victims and determine a motive.