Posted on 04/23/2018 2:55:45 PM PDT by BBell
Alek Minassian, 25, has been identified as the man responsible for the plowing into pedestrians with a white van during a terror attack in Toronto. The attack reportedly killed nine people and injured 16. CBS News first reported Minassian’s identity.
According to reports, Minassian mounted a curb with a white van, driving into pedestrians at the intersection of Yonge Street and Finch Avenue in North York before fleeing the scene. While early reports indicated that eight people were injured, that number grew to 16 reportedly injured and nine reportedly dead.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “Our hearts go out to anyone affected. We’re obviously going to have more to learn and more to say in the coming hours.”
Minassian was arrested a short time after by Toronto police. When he was being apprehended, he reportedly mimed drawing a gun on police.
Minassian is in custody and the van has been located, Toronto Police media representative Gary Long said. A law enforcement official briefed on the situation in Toronto tells CNN the incident is believed to be deliberate.
Seven patients from the incident were received at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. The hospital was unable to provide details on the severity of those injuries. Stephen Powell, district chief for Toronto Fire, confirmed that there have been multiple casualties. A large presence of Toronto fire, police and EMS personnel are on the scene, Powell said.
The incident happened in the North York area at the intersection of Yonge Street and Finch Avenue, police said. Powell said the suspect covered between a half-mile and a mile in the vehicle.
Chelsea Luelo, who works at Capriccio Café, saw the incident and said she thought the driver was hitting people intentionally. “It looked like he was going straight, halfway through the sidewalk,” Luelo said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: “Our thoughts are with all those affected by the terrible incident at Yonge and Finch in Toronto. Thank you to the first responders working at the scene – we’re monitoring the situation closely.”
The attack in Toronto comes six months after eight people were killed and almost a dozen were injured after 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov drove a rented pickup truck down a busy bicycle path near the World Trade Center in New York City on October 31, 2017.
Bring back mental hospitals....and stop giving the crazy people ideas...like in incessant reporting about brutal murders...violence on tv and movies...video games...comics...etc....too much is seen talked about..and it is incessant...a mentally deranged person will try and mimic it...ask advertisers how they try to influence behaviour and see if incessant images and talk is a large factor
A genocide protestor?
Jihadists typically shave their entire body before perpetrating a terror attack.
Yes. What’s up with that?
That is clearly a high-capacity van with a fully automatic transmission. Children under 21 (25? 30?) should not have access to transports of mass destruction.
I, for one, am ready for the death penalty to be reinstituted in Canada.
Who is the greater monster?
This fellow or those that allow him to live on in mockery of the dead and the living.
Because we are not him.
Why would anyone have a question regarding his background? /s
Why would anyone have a question regarding his background? /s
It does sound like an Armenian name, and also, the Armenians have been commemorating the genocide in recent days. Very strange.
It appears that this act was actually caused by mental illness and has no direct connection to Islamic terrorism. The guy had posted on facebook about his sexual frustrations and then went out and carried out this bizarre act, followed by an attempt to commit suicide by cop.
Very sad but all indications suggest this is not inspired directly by Islamic terrorism. However, they invented the method of mayhem and are responsible to that extent.
According to news reports (and my faith in these always subject to limitation) his parents are said to be devastated and this also points more to a mental health cause than terrorism where the family usually say they are surprised rather than distraught.
Muslims, again.
I would have thought it an Armenian name.
Your Prime Minister sucks at least as much as our last President did.
Our Prime Minister is off-the-charts stupid. He’s a PC buffoon - a complete joke who takes after his brain dead mother.
Your last president was more evil than he was stupid. Ours in just stupid, which is still pretty dangerous.
I can't recall, but tend to believe I saw that movie before. An op executed during another op.
1!0 dead , but the story is not Wall to Wall coverage on tv. Because not in uS?
I’ve got to tell you, his name sounds Armenian, which would (with 90+% probability) make him Orthodox Christian. Very weird situation.
An Armenian convert to Islam would be VERY strange indeed. A person who so converted would be absolutely shunned by his community.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.