Update, 7:15 PM Eastern: CBC News posted video of the police confrontation with the suspect, who can be heard yelling “Kill me, I have a gun in my pocket, shoot me in the head!” and brandishing an object at the officers.
Update, 7:05 PM Eastern: “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,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said via Twitter.
Sunnybrook Hospital reports that ten victims were brought to its trauma center. Two of them died, five are in critical condition, two are in serious condition, and one is in fair condition.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale described the incident as an “attack,” but would not confirm whether it has been classified as a terrorist attack. As a precaution, security has reportedly been increased at the Air Canada Center in downtown Toronto for the Stanley Cup playoff game tonight.
Update, 7:00 PM Eastern: NBC News reports that Minassian “allegedly researched and chatted online about the Isla Vista killings from 2014.”
The Isla Vista massacre near UC Santa Barbara was a carefully prepared killing spree perpetrated by 22-year-old Elliot Rodger using a vehicle, knives, and firearms. Mental illness, a keen interest in Nazi Germany, and rage at women because he couldn’t get a girlfriend were all cited as motivating factors for Rodger.
Update, 6:45 PM Eastern: CBS news has claimed to have identified the driver of the van as 25-year-old Alek Minassian while U.S. sources have told Reuters that terrorism is the leading theory for the motivation for the attack. Toronto police have not confirmed the identity of the suspect in the attack and a press conference is scheduled for later this evening.
Canadian broadcaster CTV has confirmed that Minassian is the suspect in police custody, though Toronto police claim that he was not previously on their radar.
NEW: 25-year-old Alek Minassian identified as the suspected driver who ran down pedestrians in Toronto, killing at least 9, sources confirm to CBS News. https://cbsn.ws/2vEzXHN
#BREAKING: CTV News has confirmed the driver of the van allegedly involved in this afternoon’s deadly incident is named Alek Minassian. Sources say he is not known to police and motive for the incident is not yet known.
Police in Toronto reported multiple injuries and fatalities after a white van struck pedestrians at the busy intersection of Yonge Street and Finch.
The incident occurred in the early afternoon at the intersection which lies close to the Finch subway and bus station, one of the busiest transport hubs in the city of Toronto. One suspect appears to have been arrested.
Newstalk 1010 reports that up to 9 people are dead following the attack.
Witnesses told local TV crews that the driver was traveling at around 45 miles per hour, “crumbling up people” and taking the action “intentionally”.
Natasha Fatah
✔@NatashaFatah
Eye witness telling local TV the driver was driving at least 70 or 80km an hour on the sidewalk. Witness in tears said driver was “crumbling up people” “this person was intentionally doing this”
Photos, which has been posted online show multiple people on the ground as a result of the incident. The Toronto subway system, known as the TTC, has shut down service to Finch station in response.
Toronto police are now reporting multiple fatalities following the incident which has seen a man, described as being “Middle-Eastern” in appearance, arrested a short distance away.
Natasha Fatah
✔@NatashaFatah
#BREAKING Witness to truck ramming into pedestrians tells local Toronto TV station that the driver looked wide-eyed, angry and Middle Eastern.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave a brief statement to the media in the houses of parliament in Ottawa, sharing his condolences for the victims and their families. “Obviously we’re just learning about the situation in Toronto. Our hearts go out to anyone affected. We’re going to obviously have more to learn and more to say in the coming hours,” he said.
Amanda Ferguson
✔@CityNewsAmanda
#UPDATE: Toronto Police confirm a van mounted the curb and hit a number of pedestrians. The driver fled the scene. Police later located the vehicle at Yonge and Sheppard. Driver is in custody, alive, and no motive at this point @Citynews
Alex Shaker, who was driving at the time of the incident and witnessed the van hit multiple people, told CTV News: “He started going down on the sidewalk and crumbling down people one by one. He just destroyed so many people’s lives. Every single thing that got in his way.” Shaker also claimed that one of the victims had been pushing a children’s stroller.
The Associated Press
✔@AP
BREAKING: Police in Canada say van that struck 8 to 10 people in Toronto found and driver in custody.
Horrifying moment a truck driver mows down soldiers in Jerusalem – and REVERSES over them – killing four and injuring 15 before being shot dead at the wheel, as Israeli PM blames attack on ISIS
Four Israelis soldiers have been killed and 15 wounded in a terrorist truck attack in Jerusalem on Sunday
The victims had just disembarked a bus on a sightseeing tour when the truck driver veered into them
Medics who attended the scene said that three of the victims were women, while all four were in their 20s
Police confirmed the suspected terrorist had been ‘neutralised’ after his windscreen was covered in bullets
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ISIS is to blame but provided no further details about it
Tour guide Eytan Rund has described how he shot his ‘entire magazine’ at the driver ‘until it was over’
A Palestinian has rammed a truck into a group of Israeli soldiers visiting a popular tourist spot in Jerusalem, killing four and wounding at least 15 people, in a shocking copycat of the Berlin and Nice terror massacres.
Shocking video from the scene shows the driver reversing back over the soldiers, trapping ten under his wheels, during the sickening attack on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleged the attacker ‘supported’ the Islamic State group, though he provided no details on what led to the finding.
Speaking at the scene of the attack, Mr Netanyahu said the attacker has been identified and ‘according to all the signs he was a supporter of the Islamic State.’
He says there ‘definitely could be a connection’ between Sunday’s attack, which killed four Israeli soldiers, and recent attacks in France and Germany.
Muslims Are So Peaceful
The terrorist was shot dead by Israeli forces at the location overlooking holy sites in the Old City such as the Dome of the Rock and providing one of the most spectacular views of Jerusalem.
Chaos broke out at the scene when the truck ploughed through the crowd, with hundreds of soldiers having arrived there as part of a tour for troops about the history of Jerusalem.
‘A lone terrorist drove his truck into a group of soldiers standing on the side of the road,’ police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told reporters at the scene.
‘They got off the bus, and as they were getting off the bus and getting organised, he took advantage.’
Israel’s military said one of its soldiers fired on the attacker and distributed video of him saying he shot after realising it was not an accident.
Multiple bullet holes could be seen in the windshield of the truck.
Police only confirmed four people were dead, but a medic at the scene said they were soldiers.
Medics also reported that three of the victims were women, while all four were in their 20s.
Netanyahu says Israel has blockaded Jabel Mukaber, the east Jerusalem neighborhood where the truck driver lived, and is planning other measures to prevent similar attacks.
The group of soliders were standing beside the bus on some grass when the truck bounced into the air onto the promenade and drove through the victims without warning.
The killer then stood on his brakes and reversed, trapping some ten of his victims under the truck.
Some of the surviving soldiers managed to jump clear and opened fire, riddling the cab of the truck killing the man.
The soldiers were on a cultural sightseeing tour of the city when they were attacked.
The atmosphere in Israel has also been charged following the manslaughter conviction last week of an Israeli soldier who fatally shot a Palestinian attacker who had already been badly wounded and was lying on the ground.
Eytan Rund, a tour guide who said he shot the attacker Sunday, said soldiers in the area were slow to respond. He said he believed the ‘hesitation’ was connected to last week’s verdict.
Rund said: ‘The truck sent me flying, I was lucky, just a couple of bruises. The right corner of the truck hit me and sent me flying, a couple of flips on the grass, I am quite amazed that I am standing here right now.
‘The second biggest miracle is that my gun wasn’t lost from this.’
He said he realised that attack was intentional after the truck ‘suddenly turned around to probably run over again’.
‘I pulled out the gun I fired one shot at the wheels and I realised this will not do and while he [the attacker] was driving I ran to overtake him from his left side, I stood in front of him and started shooting my entire magazine until it was over.
‘He kept on driving after… I don’t know if my bullets were the one that wounded him and made him stop, but without a doubt he kept on going a few metres after I shot him.’
It is understood soldiers fired at least 18 rounds at the terrorist, who is believed to be from an Arab area of east Jerusalem.
Tour guide Lea Schreiber said: ‘I heard my soldiers screaming and shouting.
‘I saw a truck that went on the side of the road. Soldiers starting shooting. There were orders and screaming everywhere. They told them to hide behind the wall because there was fear of another attack.
‘There was no sense in that reverse. He drove backward to crush more people. That was really clear.’
SIS terrorist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove his 19-tonne truck at revelers celebrating Bastille Day in Nice on July 14 last year killing 86 people and injury 400.
The killer mounted the pavement and steered directly towards the pedestrians walking along the promenade.
Bouhlel drove at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour as he crushed innocent civilians walking back from the sea front following the city’s fireworks display.
Eventually, French police were able to bring the rampaging truck to a halt and shot the Tunisian-born Bouhlel dead.
SIS terrorist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove his 19-tonne truck at revelers celebrating Bastille Day in Nice on July 14 last year killing 86 people and injury 400.
The killer mounted the pavement and steered directly towards the pedestrians walking along the promenade.
Bouhlel drove at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour as he crushed innocent civilians walking back from the sea front following the city’s fireworks display.
Eventually, French police were able to bring the rampaging truck to a halt and shot the Tunisian-born Bouhlel dead.
The Palestinian Hamas movement praised the attack, but did not take responsibility.
Hamas spokesman Abdul-Latif Qanou called it a ‘heroic’ act and encouraged other Palestinians to do the same and ‘escalate the resistance.’
Qanou said Sunday’s attack proves the wave of Palestinian violence has not ended, despite a recent lull. He says ‘it may be quiet, it may linger, but it will never end.’
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, is pledged to Israel’s destruction.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat called on residents to be wary but carry on with their everyday life.
‘Unfortunately, there is no limit to the cruelty of terrorists who spare no means in killing Jews and disrupting their way of life. Those who incite and support terror must pay a heavy price.’
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri says the truck veered off course Sunday and struck a group of soldiers who had just disembarked from a bus.
Palestinian security officials in the West Bank city of Ramallah said he was a Palestinian from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber, close to the scene.
An ISIS terror magazine advised its followers to use large trucks when carrying out their planned atrocities, targeting ‘pedestrian congregated streets’ and ‘outdoor markets’.
The magazine, Rumiyah, said trucks, unlike knives, ‘arouse absolutely no doubts’, citing the example of Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel who murdered 86 people in Nice on July 14 and injured 400.
The twisted publication claimed a vehicle ‘presents the opportunity for terror for anyone possessing the ability to drive a vehicle’.
It said: ‘Likewise, it is one of the safest and easiest weapons one could employ against the kuffar, while being from amongst the most lethal methods of attack and the most successful in harvesting large numbers of the kuffar.’
The terror training manual said the ideal vehicle needed to be reasonably quick, heavy and ‘double-wheeled, giving victims less of a chance to escape being crushed by the vehicle’s tyres’.
Importantly, the truck needs ‘a slightly raised chassis and bumper, which allow for the mounting of sidewalks and breaching of barriers, if needed’.
The magazine said any event with a large crowd presents a good possible target.
‘The target should be on a road that offers the ability to accelerate to a high speed, which allows for inflicting maximum damage on those in the vehicle’s path.’
The potential terrorist is told he must ensure that he has pledged his allegiance to ISIS, even by writing a note and leaving it in the vehicle.
Chillingly, the magazine said: ‘It is imperative that one does not exit his vehicle during the attack. Rather he should remain inside, driving over the already harvested kuffar, and continue crushing their remains until it becomes physically impossible to continue by vehicle.’
An Israeli bus driver who witnessed the incident said on the radio the truck ploughed into a group of soldiers, and that they fired on the driver, who reversed direction and ran over them again.
‘They shot him, until they neutralised him,’ said the bus driver, who gave his name only as Moshe.
The attack matched the deadliest in a more than year-long wave of Palestinian shooting, stabbing and vehicle attacks against Israelis. The two gunmen in last June’s attack in Tel Aviv also killed four people, who were eating dinner at a popular tourist spot.
Since September 2015, Palestinian attackers have killed 40 Israelis and two visiting Americans. During that time, 230 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire.
The violence has slowed of late but tensions have been rising since President-elect Donald Trump promised to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The Palestinians claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital, and have warned that moving the embassy would cross a ‘red line’ and undermine negotiations over one of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
