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A 20-year-old truck driver was charged with four counts of first-degree murder after a hit and run in Canada that police allege was a “planned, premeditated act” against a family due to their Muslim faith.
Police in London, Ontario said that terrorism charges were also possible against Nathanial Veltman and that they were in discussions with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the country’s Attorney General.
“There is evidence that this was a planned, premeditated act motivated by hate. It is believed that these victims were targeted because they were Muslim,” Detective Inspector Paul Waight said at a press conference on Monday.
Mr Veltman is also charged with one count of attempted murder in connection to a nine-year-old boy who survived with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Four members of the boy’s family died when they were struck by a black pick-up truck while walking along Hyde Park Road in Northwest London at about 8.40 pm local time, including a 74-year-old woman, a 46-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman, and a 15-year-old girl.
The family was waiting to cross the intersection when the truck mounted the curb, struck the victims, and speed off south at a “high rate of speed”.
“This is a devastating loss of four members of our community,” police Chief Steve Williams said.
He added that investigators believe it was an intentional act “based on information collected during the course of the investigation”.
Asked by media how they knew it was a hate-crime motivated attack, police said they gathered evidence “from a variety of sources, including online”.
About eight minutes after the family was hit, the driver allegedly stopped near the Cherryhill Mall about four miles, or seven kilometres, away where he was arrested by police, Mr Waight said.
He was allegedly wearing what police called “a vest that appeared to be like body armour”, but investigators would not confirm nor deny whether he was carrying a knife at the time of the arrest.
Police said there was no known previous connection between the victims and the suspect, who does not have a previous criminal record with London police. Police said he had “contact” with other police services in the past but not for anything of a serious nature.
The mayor of London, Ed Holder, said the attack was “an act of mass murder, perpetrated against Muslims — against Londoners — and rooted in unspeakable hatred”.
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