{"id":63922,"date":"2018-04-24T06:15:34","date_gmt":"2018-04-24T06:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=63922"},"modified":"2018-04-24T06:15:34","modified_gmt":"2018-04-24T06:15:34","slug":"toronto-van-driver-kills-at-least-10-people-in-pure-carnage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/toronto-van-driver-kills-at-least-10-people-in-pure-carnage.html","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Van Driver Kills at Least 10 People in \u2018Pure Carnage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toronto Van Driver Kills at Least 10 People in \u2018Pure Carnage<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The killing began on a busy lunchtime thoroughfare in Toronto on Monday when a white rental Ryder van ran over a pedestrian crossing the street \u2014 then mounted a sidewalk and began plowing into people indiscriminately.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne by one, one by one,\u201d said a witness who identified himself as Ali. \u201cHoly God, I\u2019ve never seen such a sight before. I feel sick.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

By the end, at least 10 people were dead and 15 were injured, said the authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

The driver\u2019s actions, they said, appeared intentional, but did not seem to have been an act of terrorism. \u201cThe city is safe,\u201d said the Toronto police chief, Mark Saunders.<\/span><\/p>\n

The driver, who was identified as Alek Minassian, 25, was in custody after initially refusing to surrender.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGet down or you\u2019ll be shot,\u201d the officers warned him after he exited the van in a scene captured on video.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShoot me in the head,\u201d Mr. Minassian said.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was subdued without any shots being fired.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nearby, the bodies of the dead and injured, some covered by orange tarps, lay on a broad sidewalk that was scattered with debris, including a child\u2019s stroller.<\/span><\/p>\n

The carnage was reminiscent of deadly attacks by Islamic State supporters using vehicles that have shaken up Nice, France, Berlin, Barcelona, London and New York. But late Monday, Canada\u2019s public safety minister, Ralph Goodale, said this time appeared to be different.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe events that happened on the street behind us are horrendous,\u201d he said, \u201cbut they do not appear to be connected in any way to national security based on the information at this time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With the driver under arrest, the Canadian authorities began the process of reconstructing how \u2014 and why \u2014 a day filled with the promise of early spring became a scene of horror. The authorities released few details about Mr. Minassian on Monday night.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of pedestrians out, a lot of witnesses out, enjoying the sunny afternoon,\u201d said Peter Yuen, the deputy chief of the Toronto police service.<\/span><\/p>\n

John Flengas, the acting E.M.S. supervisor for Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, which said it received 10 victims from the scene, described it as \u201cpure carnage.\u201d He told CTV News on Monday that he had seen \u201cvictims everywhere.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One witness said the van had mowed down everything in its path: pedestrians, mailboxes, electrical poles, benches and a fire hydrant. Another, who rushed to help the pedestrian struck while crossing the street, said, \u201cPieces of the van went flying everywhere.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Meaghan Gray, a spokeswoman for the Toronto police, said the authorities received a report at 1:30 p.m. on Monday that the van had mounted a curb near Yonge Street and Finch Avenue West. Stephan Powell, a spokesman for the Toronto Fire Department, said pedestrians were struck at \u201cat least two locations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ten victims were taken to the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Dr. Dan Cass, its executive vice president, said at a news conference. Two were declared dead on arrival, five were in critical condition and three were in serious condition, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Cass said that he did not have information about the nature of the victims\u2019 injuries and that the hospital had not yet confirmed the identities of the dead.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a statement on Monday, John Tory, the mayor of Toronto, said, \u201cMy thoughts are with those affected by this incident and the front-line responders who are working to help those injured.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, \u201cWe\u2019re monitoring the situation closely.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yonge Street is Toronto\u2019s main artery, and is widely celebrated as the longest street in Canada. It cuts through the city from Lake Ontario through downtown before reaching the suburbs and then into farmland.<\/span><\/p>\n

The deaths occurred in the far north, a densely populated part of the city surrounded by many new condominium towers. On Monday, many shops in the area remained closed, at the request of the authorities. And a makeshift memorial was developing at a stone wall just south of Finch Avenue.<\/span><\/p>\n

Konstantin Goulich, a local resident, appeared with bags of markers and rolls of cardboard from a dollar store.<\/span><\/p>\n

Guys please come and write how you\u2019re feeling: your wishes for the victims, if you\u2019d like to say something. Every bit of support counts,\u201d Mr. Goulich said to passers-by.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t write in English, write in your own language write in Chinese, write in Korean,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Late in the day, well south of the scene of the killings, extra security was obvious around the Air Canada Centre in downtown Toronto, where the Toronto Maple Leafs were playing Boston in a playoff game. Large municipal dump trucks, apparently filled with sand and gravel, were used to block off roads, including one major thoroughfare near the ice rink.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the game, which Toronto won, jubilant fans streamed out of the arena, but the only sign of the day\u2019s events on Yonge Street were clutches of police officers wearing bulletproof vests. Some fans expressed shock about the carnage that had taken place earlier in the day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t expect this in Canada,\u201d said one fan, Luca Pitsocia, a 21-year-old aspiring paramedic.<\/span><\/p>\n

The van used in the rampage was stopped about a mile south of where it took place, said Dan Fox, a civil servant who passed the vehicle on his way to work on Monday. He said it had \u201csignificant damage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt looked like the side of the van had scraped along the side of the building,\u201d Mr. Fox said in a phone interview, the sound of police sirens wailing behind him. \u201cThe driver-side door was open, but I didn\u2019t see anyone in or around the van.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The episode in Toronto appeared to be the deadliest use of a vehicle in Canada to deliberately mow down pedestrians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last October, a police officer in Edmonton was struck with a car and stabbed, and four other people were later deliberately hit by a U-Haul truck. The driver of both vehicles, a Somali immigrant, was arrested in what Prime Minister Trudeau called a terrorist attack.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2014, a driver in the Montreal area struck two members of the Canadian armed forces and was shot and killed by the police, who described the attack as Islamist terrorism. One of the victims died.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/23\/world\/toronto-van.html<\/span><\/p>\n

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