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Driver in custody after Toronto pedestrians hit by white van that fled scene

CBC/Radio-Canada, , Monday, April 23, 2018, http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/...r-AAwf7it?li=AAggXBQ
a group of people walking down a busy city street: Onlookers gather at Yonge Street and Finch Avenue in Toronto in the aftermath of what police described as a van hitting multiple pedestrians.
Jon Tam Onlookers gather at Yonge Street and Finch Avenue in Toronto in the aftermath of what police described as a van hitting multiple pedestrians.

 

Toronto police say they have arrested a driver after a white van struck a number of pedestrians in the Yonge Street and Finch Avenue area.

Eight to 10 people were hit, police said initially, though Toronto paramedics put the injured number at closer to five.

A witness said separately that he had seen at least four bodies lying covered on the ground.

The van, which may have mounted the curb and hit the pedestrians on the sidewalk, was stopped by police, Const. Jenifferjit Sidhu told CBC Toronto.

Officers were called to the area shortly before 1:30 p.m. ET. 

Police closed the southbound lanes of Yonge Street at Finch as they investigated. People were urged to avoid the area.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed condolences as he was heading into question period. He said he was just learning of the incident.

"Our hearts go out to everyone affected," Trudeau said.

Paramedics attend to people after multiple pedestrians were hit by a van in north Toronto in this handout photo from Instagram on Monday, April 23, 2018. Photos: Van strikes multiple pedestrians in Toronto

Gallery courtesy of Canadian Press

He said he would have more to say in the coming hours.

Toronto Mayor John Tory said he was making his way up to Mel Lastman Square in the area for an update on the situation.

He said his office is being updated by Toronto Fire Service, Toronto Paramedic Services, the TTC and the acting city manager. 

Tory said the incident is tragic.

"My thoughts are with those affected by this incident and the frontline responders who are working to help those injured. I have offered any and all assistance that the city can provide to police to help this investigation." 

Marianne Cho, a worker at Kayagum Restaurant, 5460 Yonge St., said the area had been blocked off by police.

"I just see one man lying at an intersection at Yonge and Kempford. There are ambulances around him and paramedics and cops," she said. 

"I was just working and then another worker told me a man might have been possible been hit by a car. I see a man on the ground right now and he hasn't been not moving at all."

The man was less than 100 metres from the restaurant. 

The Toronto Transit Commission, meanwhile, has suspended Line 1 subway service between Sheppard and Finch stations and said there would be no shuttle bus service.

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TTC spokesperson Brad Ross said northbound trains are emptying at Sheppard station and trains will run empty to Finch station, bypassing North York Centre station.

FM

Canada have never witness this incidents before . Lots of reasons can play out here . 

We are due for provincial election in two months .

the current government is getting blame for bringing 25,000 Serians - since then our terriost threat level went up . Increase in violence against Muslims and mosque was a development we witness . 

politicians can play nasty game also.  

lets wait for the conclusion before coming to judgement .

FM
Chief posted:
Prince posted:

I hope our Canadian members are not affected by this incident. 

Oh God , please not!

Yugi, Cham, Mits and all others please let us know that you are all safe.

This is sad , has the footprints of some wannabe .

Chief, thanks for showing compassion and kindness.

I am safe, I am deeply saddened about this incident and my prayers are with those who died and those injured.

FM
yuji22 posted:
Chief posted:
Prince posted:

I hope our Canadian members are not affected by this incident. 

Oh God , please not!

Yugi, Cham, Mits and all others please let us know that you are all safe.

This is sad , has the footprints of some wannabe .

Chief, thanks for showing compassion and kindness.

I am safe, I am deeply saddened about this incident and my prayers are with those who died and those injured.

My sister works in the vicinity.  She just told us she had to walk pass the victims in bags!

This is what she said:

Hello all, i work at yonge/finch and we are safe. it was awful to see. i was outside and walked past the orange body bags..it was hard to believe. Our office closed early as bus schedules were interrupted, but all is fine with us here. thanks for reaching out to ask. it was eerie to see this incident unfold.

FM

According to CBC:

Government officials briefed on the investigation so far say the suspect is not associated with any organized terrorist group and he does not represent a larger threat to national security.

 
Alek Minassian, 25, is the suspect in the Toronto van attack that killed 10 people and injured 15 others. (Alek Minassian/LinkedIn)

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

 

FM
Chief posted:
Riff posted:

Well...no 24/7 news coverage...so must be business as usual....shucks, CNN don't want even say the name

No Muslim/no news

We have a poster here just like CNN. He did not show up on this thread, if it was done by a person with Muslim name he would have been all over this story.

Nehru? He started this thread.  

FM
Leonora posted:
Chief posted:
Riff posted:

Well...no 24/7 news coverage...so must be business as usual....shucks, CNN don't want even say the name

No Muslim/no news

We have a poster here just like CNN. He did not show up on this thread, if it was done by a person with Muslim name he would have been all over this story.

Nehru? He started this thread.  

Nehru has a direct private feed from CNN before they decide to go public.

FM
 

The suspect in the Toronto van attack was a man who travelled through the world with two identities: One as a socially awkward student who rarely spoke, barely functioned and had difficulty controlling tics, and another as an expert-level whiz who could lead classmates through the intricacies of computer chips.

Police Chief Mark Saunders identified the suspect in a vehicle attack that killed at least 10 people and injured 15 as Alek Minassian, 25, of Richmond Hill, Ont. He was not previously known to police.

 

An Alek Minassian was known to his former classmates in high school and over seven or eight years at Seneca College as a man with no known religious or political affiliations or strong views on anything, nor a penchant for violence.

Their accounts up to a few years ago describe a man some former classmates believed could never learn how to drive, let alone carry out an attack.

 

At least three former classmates said he appeared to suffer from a social disability. A couple also said he seemed friendly and never had serious conflicts.

 
Bystanders captured the moment one police officer arrested a suspect after a white van ran over dozens of pedestrians on Yonge Street between Finch Avenue East and Sheppard Avenue East in Toronto.

One classmate, who worked on a project with him at Seneca in 2015, described Mr. Minassian as someone with a significant social or mental disability who had a hard time speaking to people, difficulty under pressure, and constant physical tics where he shook his hands and tapped his head.

The man, who did not want to be identified, expressed disbelief that Mr. Minassian would even be capable of renting and piloting an automobile. He said, when he knew him, Mr. Minassian didn’t drive, and didn’t know how a steering wheel worked.

The man said in a text conversation that he did not believe the attack would be politically motivated, saying he suspects his former classmate got into an accident, overreacted and panicked, asking police to shoot him in a video captured on the street by a bystander. The man said he heard that Mr. Minassian could code well.

One Seneca student in computer studies said Mr. Minassian had graduated from the program just last week. The student shared with The Globe and Mail a message Mr. Minassian sent to the group “out of the blue” on April 19 telling off his classmates. He added that he believed Mr. Minassian was at Seneca for seven years because he held down several software development jobs.

 

Saying he did not want to be publicly identified as an associate of a suspected killer because he is currently being interviewed for summer internships, this Seneca student added that he didn’t think Mr. Minassian had lined up any work after college.

The student said the Mr. Minassian he knew of never showed any signs of extremism or of subscribing to any particular religious or ideological persuasion – he was just a somewhat socially awkward young man who was good with computers.

A government source suggested that the suspect is not likely linked to terrorism since the RCMP integrated national security enforcement team has not been called in to investigate.

The RCMP was called in after Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was run over in Quebec by Martin Couture-Rouleau in October, 2014, because in that case the unit knew he was radicalized. They also investigated the Parliament Hill attack that took place a few days later.

The student looking for internships said the Mr. Minassian who attended his school was a whiz with working with specialized computer chips known as graphical processing units. These chips have traditionally been used to help process images, but can also have other applications where they give computers a lot more processing power.

The student said he wouldn’t describe Mr. Minassian as a loner, exactly, because he would converse when necessary. But, he added, he didn’t interact well.

 

This student said he spent much of Monday trying to tell whether his friend was the same person who surfaced in videos of the post-attack arrest. He said the portion of an eyewitness video where the suspect pointed at a police officer with an object was the man he knew. The movements fit with the man he knew, he said, although the bald head was something new.

 
A Toronto resident who was driving near a van when it mounted a sidewalk and hit pedestrians says he repeatedly honked his horn to alert bystanders to the horrific incident. The Canadian Press

On Monday night police cordoned off a Richmond Hill home property records show belong to Vahe and Sona Minassian. Officers first arrived around 3:30 p.m., neighbours said. A Haig Minassian, three years older than Alek Minassian, has also listed the address as home in bankruptcy records.

In 2009, Sona Minassian was quoted in a story in the Richmond Hill Liberal lamenting that her son, who suffered from a form of autism called Asperger syndrome, was at risk of losing access to a special program called Helpmate that assisted the teen to “work though his cognitive barriers and prepare him for the workplace.”

“My son would spend afternoons working with Helpmate. They were sensitive to his needs and now he has a job at Compugen here in town,” she said, referring to an IT company in Richmond Hill.

“He was able to take the experience provided by Helpmate and apply it. This kind of service for my son wasn’t available elsewhere. I am convinced that if we didn’t have Helpmate, my son would not have had such an opportunity.”

The article did not mention the name of the son.

With files from Molly Hayes, Stephanie Chambers, Jana G. Pruden and Colin Freeze

K
Chief posted:
Riff posted:

Well...no 24/7 news coverage...so must be business as usual....shucks, CNN don't want even say the name

No Muslim/no news

We have a poster here just like CNN. He did not show up on this thread, if it was done by a person with Muslim name he would have been all over this story.

Only Americans are obsessed with the religion of a murderer, we need to know WHY he did such sickening act.

K

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