Toronto van attack: What you need to know about Alek Minassian, incels and the trial on Zoom that starts this morning

By Star staffwire services

Tue., Nov. 10, 2020timer3 min. read

updateArticle was updated 50 mins ago

On April 23, 2018, a man at the wheel of a rented white van turned a gorgeous spring day into a nightmare unlike anything Toronto had ever known. For four terrifying minutes starting at 1:27 p.m., he cut a high-speed swath through pedestrians along Yonge Street, killing 10 people, wounding 16 and traumatizing many more.

The carnage in North York stretched more than a kilometre along Yonge, south of Finch Avenue.

Following a short confrontation with Const. Ken Lam just after 1:30 p.m., Alek Minassian, then 25 years old and from Richmond Hill, was in custody.

The true horror of what happened was still emerging. Ten people had their lives cut short: Ji Hun Kim and So He Chung, both 22; Anne Marie D’Amico, 30; Andrea Bradden, 33; Chul Min (Eddie) Kang, 45; Renuka Amarasingha, 45; Dorothy Sewell, 80; Geraldine (Gerry) Brady, 83; Munir Najjar, 85; and Betty Forsyth, 94.

Survivors were in hospital, facing serious, life-changing injuries.

Read more:

Compilation of van attack stories in the Toronto Star

How the rampage unfolded, moment by moment

Edward Keenan: Cop who faced down suspect in Yonge Street carnage an example for all of us

Survivors of the Yonge St. van attack tell of the pain and anguish of recovery, one year later

Insurer withheld payments for this 92-year-old Toronto van attack survivor’s medical care. Now its own doctors say her injuries are catastrophic

What we know about Alek Minassian

As Minassian appeared briefly in a Toronto courtroom on April 24, 2018, clues about his apparent motive were beginning to surface.

A Facebook post sent by Minassian before the attack called for an “Incel Rebellion,” a reference to a virulently misogynistic online group of “involuntary celibates” that has been labelled violent extremists by the RCMP and has become the basis for a landmark terrorism charge in another murder case.

The Star has reported that incels are part of a rising threat, part of a global far-right ecosystem of angry young men who have been radicalized online and committed a rash of recent attacks from Christchurch, New Zealand to El Paso, Texas. Not all of these men are incels, experts say, but they are part of this larger web.

In a four-hour long police interview he gave hours after his arrest, Minassian expanded on what he described as his “radicalization” into the incel movement and how he came to plan and carry out the attack.

Read more:

Evan Mead: I was friends with Alek Minassian in high school. We were both outcasts

Rosie DiManno: Enticed by a clever police interviewer, van attack driver Alek Minassian tells all

Shree Paradkar: The foundational misogyny of incels overlaps with racism

Shadowy ‘incel’ subculture in spotlight after Toronto van attack

How incels fit into a global far-right ecosystem of angry young men

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Why CSIS is changing the way it talks about extremist threats, including ‘incel’ violence

What comes next?

The first-degree murder trial for Minassian begins Tuesday morning via Zoom.

Minassian, now 28, is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder. The judge-alone trial, which was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to take about four weeks.

Minassian has admitted in an agreed statement of facts to planning to rent a van and using it to kill and injure people on April 23, 2018.

The trial will centre on his state of mind before, during and after the attack and a judge is expected to have to decide if Minassian is not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

Anyone can watch a broadcast of the trial at a few rooms reserved at the downtown Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Read more:

Yonge St. van attack murder trial may be held via Zoom amid COVID-19 restrictions, judge says

‘I am a murdering piece of s—’: Ahead of trial, Toronto van attack driver’s defence asks judge to rule statements inadmissible

Murder trial of Toronto van attack driver Alek Minassian rescheduled for November after COVID-19 delay

More analysis from the Star

Azeezah Kanji: Treatment of Toronto van attacker was exemplary — of racial disparity

Vicky Mochama: Thinking technology will solve misogyny is an old magician’s trick of misdirection

Editorial | The power of setting a good example in tough times

Christopher Hume: A year after the van attack, no one has figured out how to balance safety with openness