This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/23/world/toronto-van.html

The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 4 Version 5
Toronto Van Plows Along Sidewalk, Killing 9 in ‘Pure Carnage’ Toronto Van Kills at Least 10 People in ‘Pure Carnage’
(about 3 hours later)
OTTAWA — Nine people were killed and 16 were injured on Monday when a man drove a white van onto the sidewalk along one of Toronto’s main thoroughfares, spreading carnage and fear through the country’s largest metropolis, the authorities and witnesses said. TORONTO — 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 — then mounted a sidewalk and began plowing into people indiscriminately.
The van struck a man crossing Yonge Street before it jumped the curb near Mel Lastman Square and sped down the sidewalk at 40 miles an hour, witnesses said, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. “One by one, one by one,” said a witness who identified himself as Ali. “Holy God, I’ve never seen such a sight before. I feel sick.”
The driver was taken into custody after a dramatic confrontation with the police that was captured on video. “Shoot me in the head,” he yelled before he was detained. By the end, at least 10 people were dead and more than a dozen were injured, said the authorities.
It was one of the worst mass killings in the modern history of Canada. The driver’s actions, they said, appeared intentional, but did not seem to have been an act of terrorism. “The city is safe,” said the Toronto police chief, Mark Saunders.
“There were a lot of pedestrians out, a lot of witnesses out, enjoying the sunny afternoon,” said Peter Yuen, the deputy chief of the Toronto police service. “I ask the city of Toronto to pray for our victims and to help the Toronto police service bring this matter to a successful conclusion.” The driver, who was identified as Alek Minassian, 25, was in custody after initially refusing to surrender.
John Flengas, the acting E.M.S. supervisor for Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, which said it received seven victims from the scene, told CTV News on Monday that “multiple people were injured, multiple people were deceased.” “Get down or you’ll be shot,” the officers warned him in a scene captured on video.
Mr. Flengas described the scene of the episode as “pure carnage” and said there were “victims everywhere.” “Shoot me in the head,” Mr. Minassian said.
Images posted on social media appeared to show bodies lying on a broad, tree-lined sidewalk near a pedestrian plaza, and some of them appeared to have been covered with blankets. Several witnesses said the debris left by the crash included a child’s stroller. 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’s stroller.
One witness, who identified himself as Ali, said the van had mowed down everything in its path: pedestrians, mailboxes, electrical poles, benches and a fire hydrant. 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’s public safety minister, Ralph Goodale, said this time appeared to be different.
“One by one, one by one,” he said, describing the pedestrians being struck. “Holy God, I’ve never seen such a sight before. I feel sick.” “The events that happened on the street behind us are horrendous,” he said, “but they do not appear to be connected in any way to national security based on the information at this time.”
A bystander who rushed to help the pedestrian who was struck while crossing the street said that “pieces of the van went flying everywhere.” With the driver under arrest, the Canadian authorities began the process of reconstructing how — and why — a day filled with the promise of early spring became a scene of horror.
Meaghan Gray, a spokeswoman for the Toronto police, said the authorities received a report at 1:30 p.m. on Monday that a white van had mounted the curb near Yonge Street and Finch Avenue West. The driver was in custody roughly 90 minutes later, she said. “There were a lot of pedestrians out, a lot of witnesses out, enjoying the sunny afternoon,” said Peter Yuen, the deputy chief of the Toronto police service.
Stephan Powell, a spokesman for the Toronto Fire Department said there were “numerous casualties” after pedestrians were “hit by vehicle at least two locations.” 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 “pure carnage.” He told CTV News on Monday that he had seen “victims everywhere.”
Ms. Gray said she did not know in how many places pedestrians were struck. Constable Jenifferjit Sidhu, another police spokeswoman, said that the authorities did not know “the cause or reason for the collision.” 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, “Pieces of the van went flying everywhere.”
Ten victims arrived at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center on Monday, 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. He did not have information about the nature of the victims’ injuries and said the hospital had not yet confirmed the identities of the deceased. 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 “at least two locations.”
“The circumstances certainly are unprecedented,” Dr. Cass said. 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.
In a statement on Monday, John Tory, the mayor of Toronto, reached out to those affected and to the emergency medical workers. He called the episode “tragic” and said he was heading to Mel Lastman Square, just south of where the collision took place, for an update. Dr. Cass said that he did not have information about the nature of the victims’ injuries and that the hospital had not yet confirmed the identities of the dead.
Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, also spoke out. “We’re monitoring the situation closely,” he said. In a statement on Monday, John Tory, the mayor of Toronto, said, “My thoughts are with those affected by this incident and the front-line responders who are working to help those injured.”
Videos from bystanders appeared to show the arrest of the van driver, a balding middle-aged man standing beside an extensively damaged white Ryder rental van. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “We’re monitoring the situation closely.”
In a video posted on The Toronto Star, the man, who appeared to be pointing an object at the police, is heard yelling, “Kill me” as a Toronto police officer demanded repeatedly that he get down. Yonge Street is Toronto’s 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.
“I have a gun in my pocket,” the man yelled. 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.
The police officer responded by saying: “I don’t care. Get down.” Konstantin Goulich, a local resident, appeared with bags of markers and rolls of cardboard from a dollar store.
He was then told by the police to cooperate or he would be shot. “Shoot me in the head,” the man yelled. “Guys please come and write how you’re feeling: your wishes for the victims, if you’d like to say something. Every bit of support counts,” Mr. Goulich said to passers-by as a van across Yonge street removed bodies from the scene.
Phil Gurksi, who worked for Canada’s intelligence service for 14 years, said that although the police had established no motive for the driver’s actions, they appeared to have been intentional. “If you can’t write in English, write in your own language write in Chinese, write in Korean,” he said.
“What we know is that it was deliberate — this is not an accident,” said Mr. Gurksi, who retired from in 2015 and now runs Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting. “It’s not a heart attack.” 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. Large municipal dump trucks, apparently filled with sand and gravel, were used to block off roads, including one major thoroughfare near the ice rink.
The van was stopped about a mile south of where the episode took place, said Dan Fox, a civil servant who passed the vehicle on his way to work on Monday. He said there was “significant damage to the side of the van.” 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 “significant damage.”
“It looked like the side of the van had scraped along the side of the building,” Mr. Fox said in a phone interview, the sound of police sirens wailing behind him. “The driver-side door was open, but I didn’t see anyone in or around the van.”“It looked like the side of the van had scraped along the side of the building,” Mr. Fox said in a phone interview, the sound of police sirens wailing behind him. “The driver-side door was open, but I didn’t see anyone in or around the van.”
He said Yonge Street, which runs through the North York section of Toronto, appeared to be closed between the scene of the episode and the location of the damaged van. The episode in Toronto appeared to be the deadliest use of a vehicle in Canada to deliberately mow down pedestrians.
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.
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.