What We Know So Far About Toronto Van Attack Suspect

TORONTO—Alek Minassian, the suspect charged with the April 23 incident where a van plowed into pedestrians on a busy Toronto street, made a brief court appearance on Tuesday, April 24. Dressed in a white jumpsuit, Minassian, 25, spoke only his name. He is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. Minassian’s LinkedIn profile lists him as a student at Seneca College from 2011 to this year. Details emerged on Tuesday from the Department of National Defence that he was briefly a member of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) last year. “He did not complete his recruit training and requested to be voluntarily released from the CAF after 16 days of recruit training,” said Jessica Lamirande, a spokeswoman with the Department of National Defence. Minassian had attended Thornlea Secondary School in Richmond Hill, graduating in 2011, according to school officials, who declined to provide further details. A Facebook post reportedly by Minassian shortly before the attack makes reference to the 2014 Isla Vista tragedy in California, where a gunman killed six people and injured several more before turning the gun on himself. In a video before the attack, the gunman said his reason was due to rejection by women; Alexander Alexandrovitch, who says on his Facebook profile that he attended the same high school as Minassian, describes the suspect as “mentally unstable.” “He was known to meow like a cat and try to bite people,” he wrote on Facebook. The area surrounding Minassian’s family home in Richmond Hill, Ont., was closed off with police tape a day after the incident. Neighbours said they didn’t know the family well and that they usually kept to themselves. The family is thought to comprise four people, with another young male besides Minassian living in the household. “We have a very quiet community, and nobody really bothers anybody else very much,” Wes Mack, a neighbour of the family, told The Epoch Times. “It’s very tragic, very, very sad, and it’s hard on the community as well.” Additional reporting by Becky Zhou; with files from The Canadian Press