A FAMILY, A U-TURN, THEN ‘PEDAL TO THE METAL’
CROWN SAYS ACCUSED WANTED TO SEND A MESSAGE: ‘BACK OFF OR MORE MUSLIMS ARE GOING TO DIE’
The thought that went through Nathaniel Veltman’s head after spotting a Muslim family and making a U-turn was simple. “Pedal to the metal,” he told police in London, Ont.
In her opening statement Monday at Veltman’s highly anticipated murder trial, federal prosecutor Sarah Shaihk said Veltman, who described himself as a “white nationalist,” went out on June 6, 2021 looking for Muslims to kill with his pickup truck.
“I want the world to know what I did,” Veltman told police not long after his arrest. He said he wanted to inspire others and had planned to “go on a rampage.”
Four members of the Afzaal family — Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, his mother Talat Afzaal, 74, and their daughter Yumnah, 15 — were killed when they were struck by a southbound pickup truck at the corner of Hyde Park and South Carriage roads that Sunday evening more than two years ago.
A fifth victim, a boy, then 9, was seriously injured. The family had been out for an evening walk when they were struck.
At the first day of Veltman’s trial, Shaikh said Veltman “carefully planned” the attack and was out searching for Muslims to kill. “I chose to go as brutal as I did because I believed I needed to send as strong a message as I could,” he told police, Shaikh said.
Veltman told London police he recognized the Afzaals were Muslim by the traditional clothing worn by the women. He said he saw the people fly over the truck when he hit them. Witnesses saw a cloud of dust rise when Veltman made his way back from the sidewalk to the road.
His reason for killing the family, Shaikh said, was to send a message to the Muslim community that he blamed for various crimes, Veltman told police. He wanted to send a message for them to “back off or more Muslims are going to die.”
“He used the truck to show others that they didn’t need a gun to kill,” Shaikh said.
Monday was the first day of evidence at Veltman’s highly anticipated trial. The 22-year-old London man has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. The prosecution has said it intends to show Veltman’s actions were both planned and deliberate and acts of terrorism.
Superior Court Justice Renee Pomerance told the jury Monday morning that there has been a change in the time estimate. They had been told it would take 12 weeks to hear the case but the trial may now be finished in eight weeks.
Shaikh’s opening statement isn’t evidence, but gives the jury of 14 a sense of what will be coming. There is a huge amount of evidence coming their way.
There are videos, photos, and witnesses. One witness will be a cab driver who was parked at Cherryhill Mall when Veltman, minutes after the family was struck, flagged him down and told the cabbie to call police.
That call was made and Veltman could be heard in the background of the 911 call saying: “It’s me, it was me. It was me who crashed into them ... I did it on purpose.”
Veltman was wearing a helmet and was on his knees with his hands on his head when police arrived, He had two knives, a machete and an airsoft gun in the truck “in case people tried to attack me,” he said.
Shaikh said the DNA matching Salman Afzaal, Talat Afzaal and Madiha Salman was found on the front of the truck. Pieces from the women’s traditional clothing were also embedded into the front of the truck.
Veltman told police he saw the Afzaal family as he was driving around and targeted them because of the clothing the women were wearing.
Also found in Veltman’s downtown London apartment was the manifesto of Brandon Tarrant, the mass murderer who attacked a mosque in New Zealand. Veltman told police Tarrant was one of his heroes.
He also pointed to Anders Breivik, the mass killer in Norway.
The jury will also see Veltman’s own manifesto, which he called “A White Awakening.” In it, he decried mass immigration and outlined his radical white nationalist political views.
In it, he called for a white society and to “make life as uncomfortable as possible” for Muslims so they leave.
“Europa Arises,” was his final line.
Shaikh said Veltman had been planning the attack for months and made the decision while driving home from work. He went home and then left to look for Muslims to kill, Shaikh said.
“I killed a bunch of people — not a bunch but four, by crashing into them,” he told police. “I meant to kill them. I don’t regret what I did.”
Shaikh told the jury that the Pakistani-muslim family had gone out for a walk and had been to a park that evening. “This would be their last walk together,” Shaikh said. “And it was their last walk because of Nathaniel Veltman.”