Toronto suspect praised mass killer
Canada in mourning as 10 murder counts filed in van rampage
TORONTO – A man whose Facebook account paid homage to a mass killer was charged Tuesday with 10 counts of firstdegree murder, a day after police say he plowed a rented van onto a crowded sidewalk in what eyewitness accounts and surveillance video appeared to indicate was a deliberate attack.
Alek Minassian, 25, handcuffed and wearing a white jumpsuit, appeared briefly in court but spoke little, telling the judge his name and saying he understood the charges. He also was charged with 13 counts of attempted murder.
Justice of the Peace Stephen Waisberg barred Minassian, who remains in custody, from contact with the victims or their families. Minassian was represented by the Canadian equivalent of a public defender but did not enter a plea. He was ordered back in court May 10.
The nation of 35 million people remained stunned and in mourning. The carnage represented the worst mass killing in Canada since 1989, when Marc Lepine shot and killed 14 women at an engineering school in Montreal before taking his own life.
President Trump expressed solidarity with Canadians, tweeting: “Americans stand with you and all of Canada, Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all. #TorontoStrong”
Investigators were determined to learn who Minassian is and why he raced down the sidewalk in a white Ryder van, slamming into pedestrians along a busy stretch of Yonge Street.
Ten people were killed and 14 injured in Monday’s bloodbath. The victims’ ages range from the 20s to the 80s and injuries from scrapes to far more serious wounds. Authorities said they expected to charge Minassian with a 14th count of attempted murder.
Investigators said that Minassian had not been known to authorities and that no motive had yet emerged — but that his actions seemed deliberate.
Minassian was briefly enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces, serving for two months in late 2017, Canada’s Department of National Defense confirmed in a statement to USA TODAY.
“He did not complete his recruit training and requested to be voluntarily released from the CAF after 16 days of recruit training,” the statement said.
A post referencing “incel rebellion” and 2014 mass killer Elliot Rodger appeared on Minassian’s Facebook account before the attack Monday. “Incel” is slang for involuntarily celibate. Rodger, who had described himself as a sexual outcast, killed six people and injured 14 near the campus of University of California-Santa Barbara before killing himself.
“Private (Recruit) Minassian Infantry 00010, wishing to speak to Sgt 4chan please,” the original Facebook post reads. “C23249161. The Incel Rebellion has already begun!.. All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!”
Facebook spokeswoman Meg Sinclair said Minassian’s account has been deleted. “There is absolutely no place on our platform for people who commit such horrendous acts,” she said in a statement
Detective Sgt. Graham Gibson, citing the Facebook post, said a majority of the Toronto victims were women. But he declined to comment on what may have motivated the suspect. Gibson also said it was too early in the investigation to determine whether Minassian had mental illness.
On Tuesday, the Minassian family home in suburban Richmond Hill was cordoned off in yellow tape while officers in three squad cars stood guard. Neighbors said the young man was rarely seen in the quiet subdivision of large brick and stucco homes.
Chris Prescott could not recall seeing the suspect once in more than two years the two lived on the same block. Another neighbor, Bill Smith, said he said hello to Minassian once last year as he walked by his house. Minassian ignored him.
“I didn’t think much of it other than I wasn’t going to say hello to him again,” said Smith, whose daughter works on the strip of Yonge Street where the carnage took place.
Authorities played down any connection to terrorism at a time when Toronto this week is hosting Group of Seven foreign and security ministers for a summit. Ralph Goodale, Canada’s public safety minister, said the investigation had turned up “no discernible connection” to national security concerns.