Van driver charged with 10 murders, 13 attempted
TORONTO — The 25-year-old suspect who plowed a van into a crowded Toronto sidewalk was ordered held Tuesday on 10 counts of murder and 13 of attempted murder as Canadian authorities and the public sought to make sense of one of the deadliest mass killings in the country’s modern history.
Alek Minassian showed little emotion as he made a brief appearance in a Toronto courtroom in a white jumpsuit and handcuffs. The judge ordered him detained without bond and scheduled the next hearing for May 10.
His father, Vahe Minassian, cried and looked stunned inside the courtroom. Asked outside if he had any message for the families of the victims, he said quietly: “I’m sorry.”
Police, meanwhile, continued to gather evidence. About 20 officers made their way down the van’s deadly path on Yonge Street, which remained closed to traffic on Tuesday and taped off with yellow crime scene tape. 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. “He was looking people directly in the eye, making eye contact, it was so scary. He wasn’t remorseful at all.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dismissed the possibility of terrorism, saying that authorities saw no national security element in the case. The president of Toronto’s police union says an officer’s behavior in arresting a suspect in Monday’s deadly van attack was “one shining moment” in an otherwise horrific day.
Mike McCormack of the Toronto Police Association said Tuesday “We’re extremely proud of him,” and adds, “He may have prevented additional deaths.”
Videos circulating on social media show the officer confronting the suspect even as he points a dark object toward the officer.
The officer refuses to shoot and repeatedly yells for the man to get down.
The suspect warns he has a gun in his pocket.
And he can be heard saying: “Shoot me in the head.” From a high-rise window, another video appears to show the suspect walking backward with his arms raised as the officer moves toward him.
The suspect eventually goes to the ground and streetlevel footage shows the officer kneeling over him as he lies on the pavement.
The incident “hasn’t changed the overall threat level in Canada,” he told a news conference, though it occurred as Cabinet ministers from the G7 nations were meeting in Toronto.
Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive, though “the incident definitely looked deliberate,” Police Chief Mark Saunders told reporters at a late-night news conference on Monday.
Saunders said Minassian, who lives in the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill, had not been known to police previously. An online social media profile described him as a college student.
Authorities released few details in the case, saying the investigation was still underway, with witnesses being interviewed and surveillance video being examined.
“We are looking very strongly to what the exact motivation was for this particular incident to take place,” Saunders said. “We need every single piece of this puzzle so we can have a fulsome picture and account as to exactly what took place here.”