Victims identified in Toronto van attack
After four days of painstaking “scientific” efforts to identify the victims of a horrific attack in Toronto, authorities released on Friday the names of eight women and two men who died when a van mounted a sidewalk, mowing down pedestrians in its path.
The dead ranged in age from 22 to 94 and included a student from South Korea and a man from Jordan, authorities said, as they noted additional charges would be laid against the man arrested in Monday’s incident.
Police have alleged 25-year-old Alek Minassian rented a van and drove to Toronto’s Yonge and Finch area, where he began cutting a swath of destruction along one of the city’s busiest roads as well as nearby sidestreets.
Ontario’s chief coroner said his team members took time confirming the identities of the deceased because they wanted to ensure there was no confusion that would add to the pain being experienced by victims’ loved ones.
“Everybody has suffered a terrible tragedy, a totally unexpected, unspeakable tragedy that is unimaginable to everybody,” Dr. Dirk Huyer said at a news conference.
“We undertook scientific efforts to confirm and ensure all the proper identifications ... We needed to do the additional work to ensure there was no confusion or any potential additional grief.”
Police officially listed the victims as: 33-year-old Andrea Bradden of Woodbridge, Ont., and Toronto residents Beutis Renuka Amarasingha, 45, Geraldine Brady, 83, So He Chung, 22, Anne Marie D’amico, 30, Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Forsyth, 94, Dorothy Sewell, 80, and Chul Min Kang, 45. Ji Hun Kim, 22, from South Korea, and Munir Abdo Habib Najjir, 85, who was from Jordan, were also among the dead.
Insp. Bryan Bott said the number of people injured in the attack has also grown to 16 after police identified two people who came forward since the beginning of the investigation.
Minassian, who is already charged with 10 counts of firstdegree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder, will face three additional attempted murder charges in the coming days, Bott said. At least 12 injured people remain in hospital, he added, but did not provide updates on their condition.
Bott declined to say whether any specific population was targeted in the attack despite the fact that the majority of the people killed were women.