A 25-year-old who ploughed a van into a crowded Toronto sidewalk was held on Tuesday on 10 counts of murder and 13 of attempted murder as Canadian authorities and the public sought to make sense of what appeared to be one of the deadliest mass murders in the country’s modern history.
Alek Minassian showed little overt emotion as he made a brief appearance in a Toronto courtroom in a white jumpsuit and handcuffs. The judge ordered him detained without bond and scheduled the next hearing for May 10.
The Ontario man accused of using a rented van as a weapon in Canada’s deadliest mass murder in decades declared himself to be a soldier in the “incel” rebellion, a term referring to a loose social media movement of men who blame women for their celibacy.
The message posted by Minassian just before the incident suggested he was part of an online community angry over their inability to form relationships with women.
The now-deleted post saluted Elliot Rodger, a community college student who killed six people and wounded 13 in shooting and stabbing attacks near the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2014.
Calling Rodger “the Supreme Gentleman,” the Facebook post declared: “The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys!”
Canadian authorities have declined to say whether anger toward women motivated the attack. The majority of the victims were women, ranging in age from their mid-20s to early 80s.
Before the attack, Minassian expressed his support for incel, short for “involuntary celibate,” on a Facebook account believed to be his. The account was taken down after the rampage.
Police, meanwhile, still appeared to be gathering evidence. About 20 officers made their way down the van’s deadly path on Yonge Street searching for any evidence. Nearby, mourners had put together a makeshift memorial to the victims.
“It was like he was playing a video game, trying to kill as many people as possible,” said Panna Patel, 42, who stopped by the memorial and had been at the scene a day earlier, getting cash from an ATM as it occurred. “He was looking people directly in the eye, making eye contact, it was so scary. He wasn’t remorseful at all.” – TRT.
