‘Toronto attacker’ on anti-woman mission
‘Involuntary celibate’ accused of killing 10 with van
THE van driver accused of ploughing into pedestrians in Toronto and killing ten allegedly posted an online rant just moments before the attack about his failures with women.
Alek Minassian, 25, was yesterday charged with ten counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder at a court in the city.
The college student – who had served in Canada’s army – showed little emotion as he was accused of the deadliest mass killing in Canada in decades.
On Monday at 1.30pm, Minassian ploughed a rented van along a crowded pavement before being captured in a tense but brief confrontation.
Yesterday, the first victim of the horror which unfolded on Monday afternoon was named as Anna Maria D’Amico, who worked for an investment management firm.
It also emerged Minassian had referred to himself as an ‘incel’ – an online term for an ‘involuntarily celibate’ person – in a Facebook post at 1.27pm, minutes before the attack.
He had also praised Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old who killed six in a rampage through Isla Vista, California, in 2014 before turning the gun on himself. During his onslaught, Rodger uploaded a YouTube video titled ‘Elliot Rodger’s Retribution’, where he explained that he wanted to punish women for rejecting him.
Minassian posted online: ‘The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!’
‘Chad’ is believed to be a term used to refer to sexually active men among the ‘incel’ commu- nity, with ‘Stacy’ as the female counterpart.
A Facebook spokesman told Global News Toronto: ‘This is a terrible tragedy… We have found and immediately deleted the suspect’s Facebook account.’
Meanwhile, former classmates said Minassian had been in a special-needs programme at Thornlea Secondary School in Toronto. One claimed he would walk the halls with his hands together and his head down, making meowing noises.
Police, meanwhile, still appeared to be gathering evidence yesterday. About 20 officers combed the van’s deadly path on Yonge Street for evidence. Nearby, mourners had put together a makeshift memorial to the victims.
‘It was like he was playing a video game, trying to kill as many people as possible,’ said Panna Patel, 42, who stopped by the memorial and had been at the scene a day earlier, getting cash from an ATM as it occurred.
‘He was looking people directly in the eye, making eye contact, it was so scary. He wasn’t remorseful at all.’
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dismissed the possibility of terrorism, saying that authorities see no national security element in the case.
He told a news conference that the incident ‘hasn’t changed the overall threat level in Canada’.
Minassian was held without bail and will next appear at a hearing on May 10.
He would make meowing noises