Alek Minassian, Van Diver Who Killed 10 in Toronto, Praised Mass Shooter Elliot Rodger on Facebook
Canadian police are building a profile and looking for a possible motive for the deadly van attack committed by a 25-year-old man in Toronto Monday, when 10 people were killed and 15 were injured.
CBC News reports that officials have identified Alek Minassian, an Ontario resident, as the suspect behind the attack. Minassian drove his rented white Ryder van over a curb and plowed into pedestrians along Toronto's busy Yonge Street. After a standoff, the man was arrested by police and taken into custody.
While the van attack bears the hallmarks of terror-related incidents in other Western cities, Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said that the attack appears to be an isolated incident.
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"I've had the opportunity to consult with the senior officials of the security and police agencies of the government of Canada, and on the basis of all available information at the present time there would appear to be no national security connection to this particular incident," Goodale said Monday evening.
He added that authorities do not think that Canada's national threat level needs to be raised as a response to the attack.
While officials are not calling the attack a terrorist act, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said, "it's very clear just from a general perspective to say that the actions definitely look deliberate."
Saunders added that there are no previous police records on the suspect.
CNN and other news outlets are reporting that a Facebook account in Minassian's name with his photo showed a message posted on Monday that read, "All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!"
The post is believed to be in reference to the California mass shooter who in 2014 killed himself and six other people in a 10-minute shooting rampage in the college town of Isla Vista. A manifesto by Rodger later revealed that he had issues with women, even suggesting that his attack could have been avoided if only he had lost his virginity.
As the CBC noted, however, it could not be immediately verified whether the Facebook page belongs to Minassian.
Former classmates who were interviewed said that he was not "overly social."
"I'm not sure if he had any very, very close friends, at least publicly," said Ari Bluff, a former classmate of his that went to Thornlea Secondary School in Thornhill, north of Toronto.
"I never saw him with a group of friends, generally. But whenever we would see him in the hallways, we'd always speak to him or say hi to him or whatnot."
"I remember seeing him probably just walking down the halls, usually by himself, or in the cafeteria by himself," he added. "My memory is not perfect, but certainly, it would not be, I don't think, a misstatement to say that he wasn't overly social."
Toronto's The Star said that Minassian was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning, though the exact charges against him have not yet been announced.
