(CNN) Shortly before he allegedly killed 10 pedestrians Monday, Alek Minassian may have praised a man who vowed to "destroy" women who rejected him .
"All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!" reads a Facebook page believed to be Minassian's. The accolade apparently refers to the California killer who carried out a " day of retribution " in 2014.
Toronto police said Tuesday that Minassian posted a cryptic message to Facebook just before he allegedly took off in his vehicle. Sgt. Graham Gibson, a homicide detective, said Minassian's feelings about Rodger will be part of the investigation.
Minassian is accused of plowing a rental van into victims along busy Toronto street. So far, police have not cited a possible motive.
A deeper look into Minassian's past reveals an impressionable and socially awkward young man who dropped out of military training and was "terrified" of women, a former classmate says.
Who is this suspect?
- Minassian, 25, is from the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill, police said.
- On Monday, he allegedly drove a rented van down the street with reckless abandon, swerving into the wrong lanes of traffic and careening onto a sidewalk. Ten people were killed, and 14 people were injured.
- Minassian was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. Another charge of attempted murder is being considered, officials said.
- Toronto authorities said they had no previous interactions with him, but a US law enforcement official said Minassian had been known to authorities.
- A former classmate said Minassian often succumbed to peer pressure -- such as running down a hallway shirtless when dared by other students. The classmate, who didn't want to be identified, said they bonded during special-needs classes at Windham Ridge Public School and Thornlea Secondary School.
- The classmate said Minassian was very self-deprecating. "If you put him down or disrespected him or insulted him, he would agree with you," the classmate said.
Photos: Van strikes pedestrians in Toronto Photos: Van strikes pedestrians in Toronto Police inspect a van used to strike pedestrians in the North York area of Toronto on Monday, April 23. Multiple people were killed or injured as the van swerved onto the sidewalk, plowing over people in its path. Hide Caption 1 of 8 Photos: Van strikes pedestrians in Toronto An overview of the scene in Toronto. Police arrested suspect Alek Minassian, of Richmond Hill, Ontario, in a white rental van less than 30 minutes after receiving a 911 call about the incident. Hide Caption 2 of 8 Photos: Van strikes pedestrians in Toronto Emergency workers stand around the body of a victim. Hide Caption 3 of 8 Photos: Van strikes pedestrians in Toronto This aerial view shows part of the scene after the van plowed through. Hide Caption 4 of 8 Photos: Van strikes pedestrians in Toronto Coroners wait to transport victims' bodies. Hide Caption 5 of 8 Photos: Van strikes pedestrians in Toronto People embrace at the scene. Hide Caption 6 of 8 Photos: Van strikes pedestrians in Toronto A bystander looks on near a dislodged fire hydrant at the scene. Hide Caption 7 of 8 Photos: Van strikes pedestrians in Toronto A tarp covers a victim's body on Yonge Street at Finch Avenue in Toronto. Hide Caption 8 of 8
- Minassian also had severe anxiety when interacting with females and would freeze, unable to respond, the classmate said. "He was genuinely terrified with interacting verbally or physically at all, except for his mother," the classmate said.
- Another former classmate said Minassian was odd and kept to himself, but "he was always smiling."
- Minassian served in the Canadian Armed Forces last year, from August to October, a spokeswoman told CNN.
"He did not complete his recruit training and requested to be voluntarily released from the CAF after 16 days of recruit training," the Department of National Defence said. "For privacy reasons, we will not comment further on Alek Minassian's service in the CAF."
What about the motive?
- Authorities haven't released a motive. But, so far, officials are not calling this an act of terrorism. "There would appear to be no national security connection," Canadian Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale said.
- Just before the attack, it appears Minassian praised Rodger on his Facebook account, CNN law enforcement analyst Josh Campbell said.
Rodger killed six people and injured 14 others in a stabbing, shooting and vehicle-ramming attack in 2014 near the University of California, Santa Barbara campus.
Investigators noted that Rodger was motivated by a personal grievance related to the extremist ideological subculture of men's rights activists. Supporters believe women don't want gender equality and have been brainwashed by feminist propaganda.
After his rampage, Rodger died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
How was Minassian caught?
- Minassian was arrested about seven minutes after police got a 911 call about the deadly rampage, Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said.
JUST WATCHED Video appears to show Toronto police standoff Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Video appears to show Toronto police standoff 01:35
- He may have engaged in a tense standoff with police before his arrest. A cell phone video obtained by CNN partner CTV shows a man standing in front of a white van with a damaged front bumper, but officials haven't confirmed whether the man is Minassian.
The man yells and extends one arm, pointing an object at an officer standing behind a black car.
The officer, his weapon drawn, points at the man. The officer slowly steps toward him and yells "Get down, get down!"
Later in the video, the man is on the ground as the officer cuffs his hands behind him. The object, which Saunders said was not a gun, also drops to the ground.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the date of a Toronto police news conference.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "I have a gun in my pocket" – the moment Alek Minassian was arrested.
A van driver accused of killing 10 people in Toronto posted to Facebook minutes before the attack to praise killer Elliot Rodger and refer to the misogynistic "incel" Reddit group.
Alek Minassian, 25, was charged on Tuesday with 10 counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder.
Police say he appeared to intentionally strike pedestrians after mounting a busy pavement in a rental van.
He was arrested several blocks away after a tense standoff with police.
Mr Minassian's Facebook post, which the social network has confirmed as real, praised Elliott Rodger, a 22 year old from California who killed six people in a shooting rampage through Isla Vista, California in 2014 before turning the gun on himself.
It read: "The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!"
The term "incel" refers to a now-banned group on the message site Reddit, used by Rodger, where young men discussed their lack of sexual activity and attractiveness to women - often blaming women for the problem.
"Chads and Stacys" refers to attractive men and women who are perceived as better than or unavailable to "incels", which is short for "involuntary celibate".
Toronto Police Detective Sergeant Graham Gibson said at a press conference on Tuesday that the 10 dead and 14 wounded were "predominantly" women.
He said the youngest were in their twenties and the eldest in their eighties.
Authorities have not yet formally identified any of the victims.
Mr Minassian appeared in court on Tuesday to hear the charges against him. He sported a shaved head and white jumpsuit and held his hands behind his back, showing little emotion throughout.
He was ordered to have no contact with surviving victims and to return to court on 10 May.
A man believed to be a relative of Mr Minassian's sat in the front row of the court and wept. Asked by reporters after the hearing if he had anything to say, the man replied "sorry".
Skip Twitter post by @TomLlamasABC This man, believed to be Minassian's relative, was escorted out by court officials and was crying in the front row during the hearing. He said "sorry" when asked if he had anything to say to the people of Canada and softly said "no"when asked if there were warning signs. @ABC pic.twitter.com/dm6whWGEbt — Tom Llamas (@TomLlamasABC) April 24, 2018 Report
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the incident a "senseless attack and a horrific tragedy".
Yonge Street, where the attack took place, remained closed on Tuesday as police continued their investigation.
A line of officers standing shoulder-to-shoulder walked slowly down the street combing it for remaining evidence.
What else do we know about the suspect?
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) confirmed that Mr Minassian was a member for two months in late 2017. He requested to be voluntarily released.
Mr Minassian had previously attended a school for students with special needs in north Toronto, former classmates said.
He would be seen walking around Thornlea Secondary School with his head down and hands clasped tightly together making meowing noises, Shereen Chami told Reuters.
But she said Mr Minassian had not been violent. "He wasn't a social person, but from what I remember he was absolutely harmless," she told Reuters.
Image copyright LinkedIn
Mr Minassian went on to attend Seneca College in the North York area of Toronto, where the van incident took place, CBC reported.
Police say Mr Minassian is from the northern Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill and was not previously known to authorities.
Public safety minister Ralph Goodale said there "would appear to be no national security connections" and Canadian broadcaster CBC cited government officials as saying Mr Minassian was not associated with any known terror groups.
Who were the victims?
Image copyright Facebook Image caption Anne Marie D'Amico was "full of life", her colleague said
So far three victims have been named in the media and through other channels.
Anne-Marie D'Amico worked for the US investment company, Invesco, CBC reports. The company's Canadian headquarters are on Yonge Street.
The Jordanian embassy in Ottawa has told the BBC that one of its citizens was among the victims. Jordanian media named him as Munir Abdo Habib al-Najjar, who they said was in Canada to visit one of his sons.
Toronto resident Dorothy Sewell, 80, has also been named by relatives as one of the victims.
Image copyright Elwood Delaney Image caption Dorothy Sewell was a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team
Her grandson, Elwood Delaney, said she was the "best grandma anyone could have asked for".
The South Korean embassy in Canada confirmed to the BBC that two of its citizens were among the dead and another was critically ill. Their names have not been disclosed.
The 15 injured remain in hospitals throughout Toronto.
How did the incident unfold?
Police said the suspect in the van mounted the kerb on Yonge Street between Finch Avenue and Sheppard Avenue at about 13:30 local time (17:30 GMT) on Monday and drove into pedestrians along a 1km (0.6-mile) stretch.
Reza Hashemi, who owns a video shop on Yonge Street, told the BBC he heard screaming on the other side of the road. He said the van was repeatedly mounting the pavement and running into people.
One witness told City News that the driver was "hitting anything that comes in the way".
"People, fire hydrants, there's mail boxes being run over," said the unnamed man, who said he was driving behind the van during the incident.
As the van continued, the man said he sounded his horn to try to warn pedestrians. "I witnessed at least six, seven people being hit and flying in the air, like killed, on the street," he said.
Pictures from the scene showed bodies covered in orange sheets along the van's route. Debris and items of clothing were scattered across the pavements and road.
Image copyright Instagram/vodkawaterpapi Image caption The suspect confronted a police officer and claimed to have a gun
The van was brought to a halt by police several streets away and was quickly surrounded.
The suspect pointed an object at the officer and claimed to have a gun.
"I don't care. Get down," the officer said, before arresting Mr Minassian without firing a shot. The arrest was filmed by two bystanders and the officer was praised for not opening fire.
A makeshift memorial has sprung up at the junction of Yonge Street and Finch Avenue and a wall is being filled with messages of condolences, grief and support.
One of those who came to lay a flower, Dave Spence, said residents would "walk a little differently" when they came through the area "for years to come".
Image copyright EPA Image caption Flowers and messages are left near a small park on Yonge Street
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TORONTO — Monday morning, all we could talk about was the weather: Toronto woke up to a bright and warm day. Just a week earlier, as a nasty coda to a very long winter, an ice storm had battered and smattered the city for three days. Yards were strewn with debris and broken branches, and streets were clogged with snow and water and ice. Seven days later, and at last! — the weather turned. Toronto’s bike lanes and patios and sidewalks were full again.
By bright and warm Monday afternoon, the city’s conversation had changed, and it won’t go back to easy weather chatter anytime soon. The midday attack on pedestrians along a northern stretch of Yonge Street, the city’s main drag, was terrible and terrifying. This is the case whenever and wherever such things happen in the world today. But it’s fundamentally shocking in this city, for this city. This is not supposed to happen here. After all, this is Toronto.
With 10 dead and 15 injured by a man who — while his motives are not yet determined — clearly found inspiration in weaponizing a rental van to run down innocent civilians, the city has experienced the sort of horrifying event that we have long since accepted happens in the world, only elsewhere. Indeed, in a profoundly felt if rarely discussed way (we retain at least this part of our British heritage), that’s the point of Toronto itself: Whether it’s the Great Irish Famine in the 19th century or Syria’s civil war in the 21st, tragic events and traumatic histories happen elsewhere, and that’s why you come here, to make a life for yourself and your family in peace.
In doing so, and in accepting that you’re doing so alongside people from all over the world committed to the same idea, you contribute to and benefit from being part of a success story now in its third century and going strong — a flourishing, cosmopolitan urban center in a country committed to peace, order and good government. We argue about how we’re doing with those second and third components, but very rarely about the first. In a world brutalized and shredded by sectarian conflict, Toronto can feel at times like an urban amusement park: It’s the most ethnically diverse and pluralist city on the planet, and also, as residents and visitors alike have long both assumed and experienced, the friendliest and safest.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "I have a gun in my pocket" – the moment Alek Minassian was arrested.
The calm actions of a police officer who arrested the Toronto van suspect without firing a shot have prompted praise and, in some quarters, astonishment.
Video from the scene shows suspect Alek Minassian pointing an object at the officer and shouting: "Kill me!"
The officer tells the man to "get down" and when the suspect says he has a gun, the officer repeats: "I don't care. Get down."
Videos on social media show Mr Minassian lying down as the officer arrests him.
Many in North America are asking how the suspect did not end up dead in a hail of police gunfire. It contrasts with incidents in the US where police have shot and killed unarmed people.
"Research has shown that Canadian police are reluctant users of deadly force," says Rick Parent, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University in Canada's British Columbia.
"An analysis of police shooting data over many years revealed, that in comparison to their American counterparts, Canadian police officers discharge their firearms far less, per capita than US police. However, like American police officers they take many risks in protecting the public."
One US-based academic told the BBC that the officer would have had a "duty" to kill the suspect, if the object he was pointing was a gun.
Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders told journalists the officer had done a "fantastic job" to understand the "circumstance and environment" and get to a "peaceful resolution".
He said police in the city were "taught to use as little force as possible in any given situation".
Skip Twitter post by @TPSChrisBoddy Toronto Police officers de-escalate hundreds of potentially dangerous situations everyday, the world just witnessed a prime example. — Chris Boddy (@TPSChrisBoddy) April 23, 2018 Report
Skip Twitter post by @NoLore I'm surprised at how many journos are surprised that Toronto police didn't shoot the van murder suspect. You know that police are specifically not supposed to act as judge, jury and executioner, right? We need to normalize non-violent police intervention. — Nora Loreto (@NoLore) April 23, 2018 Report
Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association, told the Globe and Mail newspaper that the officer was a "hero" and could have justified opening fire.
"This officer looked at what was going on and determined he could handle it the way that he did," he said. He said he had spoken to the officer, who had told him: "I just did my job. What I did was no big deal. But look at these poor people."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "Anybody in his way, he would hit": Witnesses recall Toronto van incident
Canada's Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale praised the "brave and professional" police response.
Some on social media have praised the officer's "restraint" - while others such as author Viet Thanh Nguyen highlighted the apparent contrast with the behaviour of some US police.
Image copyright Twitter/@viet_t_nguyen
Image copyright Twitter/@girlsreallyrule
Image copyright Twitter/@sahluwal
However, Michael Lyman, professor of Criminal Justice Administration at Columbia College of Missouri, told the BBC that the officer may have had a "duty" to kill the suspect.
"Assuming the suspect is holding a gun and pointing it toward officers, it is concerning that the officer is not engaging the suspect with deadly force," he said.
Professor Lyman said that the officer might not have opened fire out of fear of public criticism after the event.
"People died as a result of the suspect's actions. Can we assume that the officer knew this? If so, this changes things a bit in that the level of public threat is higher. Under this circumstance, it would seem that the officer had a 'duty' to respond with deadly force - assuming what he was holding was a firearm," he said.
Professor William Terrill from the Arizona State University School of Criminology & Criminal Justice said the officer may have judged that the object held by the suspect did not pose a threat.
"It's possible the officer thought the object in the person's hand was not a gun, or not a real gun. The fact that the officer left the cover of his car and exposed himself out in the open would further support such a supposition," he said.
"It's also possible the officer recognised a potential suicide-by-cop incident and chose not to engage with deadly force. The only remaining option I can posit is the officer simply froze."
David Klinger, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St Louis said the video did not show enough detail for an informed assessment of the officer's actions.
"If the cop could clearly see what was in the suspect's hand, and that it wasn't a gun, then it's a simple matter of a cop doing his job correctly," he said.
