A man rammed a pickup truck on a Muslim family in the southern Canadian province of Ontario, killing four people. Police have described the incident as a hateful “thought-provoking” attack. According to a foreign broadcaster a 20-year-old man wearing something like “armor” fled the scene after the attack and was arrested at a mall in London, Ontario, seven kilometers from the scene.
A local official later told a news conference that there was evidence that the attack was premeditated and hated. The victims were targeted because they were Muslims. The names of the victims were not released, but New London Mayor Ed Holder said they included a 74-year-old woman, a 46-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman and included a 15-year-old girl; they were 3 generations of the same family.
A 9-year-old boy was also taken to hospital after the attack, where he is recovering. Mayor Holder said: Let me make it clear that this was a massacre against Muslims whose roots were in indescribable hatred. The attacker, identified as Nathaniel Weltman, and charged with four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. According to police, the attacker did not know the victims. Police said authorities are in contact with federal police and the attorney general to charge him with possible terrorism.
He provided some details of the investigation and said that the police had reviewed the posting of the accused on social media. The official said police did not yet know if the suspect was part of a group and declined to give evidence of possible hate attacks, but said the attack was planned.
On the other hand, the mayor of New London announced to keep the flag down in the city for 3 days where 30,000 to 40,000 Muslims lives in a population of 400,000. According to police, five members of a family were walking on the sidewalk at 8:40 pm local time last night when a black truck ran over them as they waited to cross the intersection. A family source said the dead included a grandmother, mother, father and a teenage girl.