The Toronto van attack occurred on Monday, April 23, 2018, when a rented white van was driven into pedestrians at speed along Young Street in the North York City Center business district of Toronto, killing 10 and wounding 15 others. The suspected driver, 25-year-old Alek Minassian, was arrested at 1:32 p.m., 7 minutes after the first 911 call reporting the incident was made, just south of the crime scene.
It is the deadliest vehicle-ramming attack in Canadian history and the worst mass killing in Canada since the 2014 Edmonton shootings, in which a total of nine people were killed.
Statements from our Leaders
The White House "United States stands with the Canadian people in the aftermath of today's tragic event in Toronto" and pledged to provide "any support Canada may need."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "Our hearts go out to everyone affected,we are going to have more to learn and more to say in the coming hours."
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne “Like so many people across Ontario, I woke up today in mourning and wanting desperately to comfort each and every person affected by yesterday’s horrific violence in Toronto.
I also found my mind’s eye returning time and again to the images from the scene last night, where I joined Toronto Mayor John Tory and so many of our first responders hard at work. As Premier, I have been focused on ensuring any and all provincial resources that are required are available and our security officials have everything they need. But as a mom, a sister, a grandmother, a wife and, above all, a citizen of this amazing city, I had a hard time getting the pictures of the violence out of my head.
A backpack, a shoe, those human objects still on the street where they lay when tragedy struck.
The silence was heavy in a part of the city that, like many Torontonians, I know so well.
That stretch of Yonge Street is always alive. Mel Lastman Square is designed as a gathering place. It seems there’s always a festival going on, or people out for lunch or going to the movies. It is a very vibrant, diverse part of the city — and it was so silent. That unnatural calm served as a stark reminder of the violence that cut through our city.
Today, that silence was countered by the touching memorial fuelled by the resilience of the local community. A resilience on display from the moment first responders arrived on scene, in the nurses and doctors who rushed into work to care for the wounded, in the neighbours who passed out water bottles to commuters walking a detour around the subway station. To each and every person who lent a hand, I say thank you. It’s that generosity — not this attack on our home — that defines us.
I heard a question on the radio this morning about whether our city, our province, our country will be changed because of this senseless act of violence.
The lives of the families and friends of the victims are changed forever. But our collective job now is to find a way to grieve, to acknowledge that pain and stand with those who have lost so much — and then to make sure that the life of this vibrant, good city and province goes on.
We are capable of deep compassion and understanding in Toronto, in Ontario and in Canada, we will be called upon to summon all of that in the days ahead.”
Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford "Our thoughts are with the victims and those affected, thank you to the brave EMS and first responders who are working tirelessly to help."
Toronto Mayor John Tory “My heart goes out to the families and loved ones of the nine people killed and 16 injured in today’s cowardly and incomprehensible attack in Toronto.”
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