Arrest after fecal attacks
Latest incident occurred in College Street and University Avenue area
Police have arrested a man after three separate incidents in which excrement was thrown at people at York University and the U of T. The attacker’s motives remain a mystery,
Toronto police have arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with a series of attacks in which buckets of feces were allegedly thrown at people.
Samuel Opoku, 23, faces five counts of assault with a weapon and five mischief-related charges in the incidents.
The alleged assaults occurred over a period of four days. The latest incident was on Monday evening, when a man is alleged to have dumped a bucket of feces on a woman near the University of Toronto’s downtown campus.
Police responded to the call shortly before midnight. In a news release, they said a woman was walking in the area of College Street and University Avenue when a man walked up to her and poured the contents of bucket containing “liquefied fecal matter” onto her.
“A young girl had a bucket of waste, feces, dumped on her,” said Toronto police Const. David Hopkinson. “I don’t know what to say, I’m at a loss; this is absolutely disgusting.”
Two similar assaults occurred at York University on Sunday and U of T on Friday.
About 5:20 p.m. Friday, a man entered the university’s John P. Robarts Library and allegedly poured a bucket of fecal matter onto two unsuspecting people seated at a table. He then fled.
On campus on Tuesday, before news of the arrest, several students had expressed concern over the incidents.
“I’m not going to stop coming to the library, but I’m definitely checking over my shoulder every now and then,” said Ethan Deneault, a student in the neuroscience program, who says he visits Robarts Library at least three times a week.
Emily Leonard, a PhD student in the Ancient Greek program and a frequent user of the Ro
“A young girl had a bucket of waste, feces, dumped on her. I don’t know what to say, I’m at a loss; this is absolutely disgusting.”
CONST. DAVID HOPKINSON TORONTO POLICE SERVICE
barts Library, said it’s especially “scary” because of the serial nature of the attacks.
“I actually wondered if I should come here today or simply just go home,” she said.
“Unbelievable that a person would be going around doing this.”
A U of T spokesperson said they are supporting the police in their investigation.
The third attack happened at York University’s Scott Library on Sunday.
Yanni Dagonas, acting chief spokesperson for the university, said an unknown man entered the library and threw a substance, suspected of containing fecal matter, on a student.
“As a public university we work to make the resources of our libraries as open as possible,” they said. “What happened was shocking and assistance was provided to those affected.”
Victor Kwong, a spokesperson for the Toronto police, said although the victims of each attack are all Asian, police do not believe the attacks were racially motivated.
“We don’t know if that’s the connection because we have different parts of Asia in there. Some (of the victims) were from the west side, some from the east side — so it’s not like they were all Chinese, per se.”
Kwong said the police are forensically inspecting an orange bucket they found following Monday’s attack to see if the feces are, in fact, human.
On Tuesday, Mayor John Tory expressed what was on the minds of many.
“It’s completely inexplicable, I don’t know why someone would do such a thing,” Tory said. “This is a person, to me, who has some very serious issues, it would seem. The most important part is that they’re tracked down.”
Opoku was arrested about 6 p.m. on Tuesday in the Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue area. He is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday morning. With files from Margaryta Ignatenko and Gilbert Ngabo