VAN MASSACRE
Driver slays 10, hurts 15 in Toronto attack Taken alive after daring police, ‘Kill me!’
Police eye carnage unleashed Monday in Toronto by Alek Minassian, a 25-year-old college student fascinated by rampage killings, who drove rental van (right) onto sidewalk, killing 10 innocent people.
A MANIACAL college student obsessed with mass murderers plowed a rental van into a crowd of pedestrians in Toronto on Monday, killing 10 innocent people and wounding another 15 in Canada’s worst massacre in nearly three decades, according to authorities and reports.
Alek Minassian, a student at Toronto’s Seneca College, jumped a curb and sped along a sidewalk before slamming into a group of people on Yonge St., one of the city’s main thoroughfares, shortly before 1:30 p.m., Police Chief Mark Saunders told reporters.
A motive for the gruesome midday bloodbath was not immediately known, but U.S. and Canadian officials briefed on the matter said Minassian, 25, has a history of mental illness. He has no criminal history.
Before the horrific Monday afternoon attack, Minassian had researched and engaged in online discussions about Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old California man who stabbed and shot six people dead near the University of California-Santa Barbara in 2014 before taking his own life, sources told NBC News. Minassian had apparently expressed admiration for Rodger, who claimed rejection by women drove him to his monstrous rampage, according to the sources.
Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale declined to comment on the motive for the crash, but said it was likely not terror-related.
“The events that happened on the street behind us are horrendous, but they do not appear to be connected in any way to national security,” Goodale told reporters at the scene. Minassian’s murderous ride left a milelong trail of destruction across about 17 Toronto city blocks, as scores of people were out enjoying an unseasonably warm day. He sped off amid the frenzy of crashing into the crowd but was arrested within minutes, according to cops. His hectic arrest was caught on video and posted to social media. “C’mon, kill me!” Minassian, dressed all in black, can be heard yelling in the video as he gets out of a white Ryder rental van, pointing some type of object at responding officers. “Shoot me in the head!” he shouts as an officer approaches.
Minassian eventually dropped the object, which police did not describe. Officers then took the suspect, of the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill, into custody.
Deputy Toronto Police Chief Peter Yuen said earlier in the day that a “complex” investigation will ensue.
“There were a lot of pedestrians out, a lot of witnesses out, enjoying the sunny afternoon,” Yuen said. “I ask the city of Toronto to pray for our victims and to help the Toronto police service bring this matter to a successful conclusion.”
Of the 15 people injured, four were in critical condition late Monday, according to officials at the nearby Sunnybrook Hospital. Another two victims were in serious condition, the officials said.
The crash came as cabinet members from
the G7 countries were gathered in Ontario’s capital city to discuss a number of international issues, including the battle against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for several similar van-ramming incidents in the past, including one on a bike path near the World Trade Center in Manhattan that killed eight people on Halloween. Similar attacks have also occurred in Barcelona, Berlin, London and Nice, France, in recent years.
The NYPD deployed additional counterterrorism officers to high-profile locations across the city in response to the deadly Toronto crash.
But Canadian officials stressed that it’s unlikely that terrorism was the motive. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to speculate on the motive.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected by the terrible incident,” Trudeau tweeted.
The massacre was Canada’s worst since Dec. 6, 1989, when Marc Lepine killed 14 people at a college in Montreal. Lepine specifically targeted women, saying he was fighting feminism.
Ali Shaker, who was driving near the van at the time of the crash, told Canadian broadcaster CP24 that Minassian was driving at least 30 mph and moved deliberately through the crowd.
“He just went on the sidewalk,” a visibly shaken Shaker said. “He just started hitting everybody, man. He hit every single person on the sidewalk. Anybody in his way he would hit.”
Another witness, Peter Kang, said the driver appeared bent on wreaking as much havoc as possible.
“If it was an accident he would have stopped,” Kang told CTV News. “But the person just went through the sidewalk. He could have stopped.”
Bodies covered by tarps could be seen on the
ground after the deadly crash, which left the front grille of the Ryder van badly buckled.
Claudia Panfil, a spokeswoman for Ryder, confirmed that the rental company is cooperating with investigators.
“We are saddened by this tragic event, and our deepest sympathies go out to those impacted,” Panfil told the Daily News in an email.
Toronto Mayor John Tory called on residents to “come together” in the wake of the tragedy.
“We should show the world that Toronto is a city that will not be cowed,” Tory said in a statement, “will not be afraid, and will not waver in the values we hold dear.”