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News > World

Van Plows Toronto Sidewalk with Nine Dead, 16 Hurt

  • A police officer stands next to a victim of an incident where a van struck multiple people at a major intersection in Toronto's northern suburbs in Toronto.

    A police officer stands next to a victim of an incident where a van struck multiple people at a major intersection in Toronto's northern suburbs in Toronto. | Photo: Reuters

Published 23 April 2018
Opinion

A Reuters witness said there were at least two bodies at the site of the incident.

A white van killed at least 9 people on a suburban Toronto sidewalk Monday after jumping the curb and the driver was in custody, according to police and a Reuters witness. The name of the alleged driver of the rental van in the Toronto attack is Alek Manassian. He's a 25-year old man from Toronto. Government sources say he is not related to any organized terror group.

Police in Canada's largest city say that 16 have been injured but it is unclear exactly the extent of their injuries.

A Reuters witness said there were at least two bodies at the site of the incident. At least seven people were brought to nearby Sunnybrook Health Services Centre's trauma center, the hospital said on Twitter.

It was not immediately clear if the incident was a deliberate act by the driver or a traffic mishap. It occurred at lunchtime on a sunny day and the sidewalks of the mixed commercial and residential area were full of pedestrians.

Police were called just before 1:30 p.m. local time to the corner of Yonge Street and Finch Avenue in the north end of the city, where a van drove onto the sidewalk and hit several people, said Toronto Police spokeswoman Meaghan Gray.

A man who gave his name as Ali told CNN he saw the van and that the driver appeared to have been targeting people.

"This person was intentionally doing this, he was killing everybody," the man said. "He kept going, he kept going. People were getting hit, one after another."

He said a number of the victims were older people and at one point he saw a stroller fly into the air.

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