TORONTO (CANADA) -
The suspect in a driving rampage that left 10 dead and 15 injured in Toronto -- Canada's biggest city -- was charged with murder and attempted murder on Tuesday.
Alek Minassian, 25, made a brief court appearance to hear the charges against him.
Here are the main facts known so far in what the government is calling a deliberate attack:
- The carnage -
Just before 1:30 pm (1730 GMT) Monday, police received an emergency call reporting pedestrians struck by a vehicle on busy Yonge Street in the center of Toronto.
A white rented van sped along that street and up onto the sidewalk at lunchtime for about half a mile (one kilometer), said the city's police chief Mark Saunders.
About 20 minutes later, the suspect was arrested near where the van had been left, its front bumper smashed in.
Police said 10 pedestrians were killed and 15 others injured, some of them in critical condition.
Several of the victims were identified in court documents. Two South Korean nationals were among the dead.
- The driver -
Police identified the van driver as Minassian, from a Toronto suburb.
The suspect lived with his father and attended a Toronto vocational school. His classmates described him to local media as withdrawn and a bit awkward.
At the time of his arrest, he was behaving strangely and holding some kind of object in his left hand as police squared off with him, according to photos seen on social media.
Police handcuffed the man as he lay on the ground.
In his first brief court appearance, Minassian, who has an imposing physical build and a shaved head, wore a white police jumpsuit.
- The motive: 'deliberate' but why? -
Police said they hoped their interrogation of Minassian would reveal his motive.
They said he had no police record, while Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale downplayed a theory of a terror attack such as those carried out by extremists in London, Nice and other major cities.
"The actions definitely looked deliberate," Saunders told journalists, adding that the driver jumped up onto the sidewalk as well as driving erratically on the street.
"So far, there is no discernable connection to national security," Goodale said Tuesday.
Toronto Mayor John Tory, meanwhile, said at the start of a city council meeting on Tuesday: "People are scared, they are unsure of what happened or why, and they are uncertain about what they should do.
"We do not have all of the answers, the police and others do not have all of the answer about what happened yesterday and they may not come for some time."
![[Gallery] Top Most Powerful Armies In The World By Rank](http://images.outbrain.com/transform/v3/eyJpdSI6IjQwNjkxZTU0ZDhhYWU4MzRlOWMzNTViYzliMWVlMGQwMjYwMzczMjU5MzZjMjI3Mzk3MTA2NGYzYzk2ODlkYTQiLCJ3IjoyMzAsImgiOjE1MCwiZCI6MS41LCJjcyI6MCwiZiI6MH0.webp "[Gallery] Top Most Powerful Armies In The World By Rank")
![[Photos] Mystery Of Prisoners Who Escaped Alcatraz May Finally Be Solved](http://www.hooch.net/is-an-alcatraz-escapee-still-alive/?utm_campaign=act-d-us-r-0-p4-180227-hn-ob-a4-a1&utm_term=prisoner_act.jpg&utm_source=ob&utm_medium=$section_id$-ob&utm_content=00e4e2e0f4a925461b80bbeea4836fcd67&obOrigUrl=true "[Photos] Mystery Of Prisoners Who Escaped Alcatraz May Finally Be Solved")
No comments:
Post a Comment