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A man driving a pickup truck jumped onto a sidewalk in the Canadian province of Ontario and crashed into a Muslim family, killing four and seriously injuring another in what police described as a targeted anti-Islam hate crime.
A 20-year-old man in a jacket “like body armor” fled the scene of the massacre Sunday night, but was arrested at a mall four miles from the intersection in London, Ontario, Detective Director Paul White said Monday.
Nathaniel Feltman, from London, faces four counts of first-degree murder. Police said he did not know the victims.
“There is evidence that this was a premeditated act, motivated by hatred. It is believed that these victims were targeted because they are Muslims,” White told reporters, noting that police reviewed the suspect’s social media posts.
He said investigators had not determined whether the suspect was a member of any specific hate group – and added that police were working with federal authorities to find out potential terrorism charges.
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The family issued a statement identifying the victims as Salman Afzal (46 years), his wife Madiha (44), their daughter Youmna (15 years) and Jeddah (74 years) whose name has been withheld.
The boy who was taken to the hospital was identified as Fayez.
“Anyone who knows Salman and the rest of the Afzal family knows the typical family they were in as Muslims, Canadians and Pakistanis,” the statement said.
“They worked hard in their fields and excelled. Their children were among the top students in their school and were strongly connected to their spiritual identity,” she added.
Salman was a physical therapist and cricket lover, and Madiha was working on a Ph.D. in civil engineering at Western University, according to an online fundraising account. She added that their daughter was finishing the ninth grade and the grandmother was a “pillar” of the family.
The family said the public should stand up against hatred and Islamophobia.
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“This young man who committed this terrorist act was influenced by a group he is associated with, and the rest of society must take a strong stand against it, from the highest levels of our government to every member of society.” He said in the statement.
Police said the five family members were walking together along a sidewalk at around 8:40 p.m. Sunday when the black car “came up on the sidewalk and crashed into them” while they were waiting to cross the intersection.
Mayor Ed Holder described the incident as “an act of mass murder committed against Muslims. It was rooted in unspeakable hatred”.
Police Chief Stephen Williams also said, “There is no tolerance in this community motivated by hate and targeting others with violence.”
People attend a memorial at the site where a family of five was beaten by a driver, in London, Ontario, on Monday, June 7, 2021 (Brett Gundlock/The Canadian Press via AP)
Paige Martin, a neighborhood resident who witnessed the aftermath of the fatal accident, said she was stopped at a red light when a large pickup truck passed in front of her. She said her car shook from the force.
“I was shaken, I thought he was an eccentric driver,” Martin said, adding that she quickly encountered the awful and chaotic scene at the intersection.
Soon, first responders arrived to help, a police officer applied chest compressions to one person and three other people were lying on the ground.
Several drivers also got out of their cars to help.
“I can’t get the screaming sound out of my head,” Martin said. “My heart is too broken for them.”
Family friend Zahid Khan said the victims immigrated from Pakistan 14 years ago and were loyal, decent and generous members of the London Muslim Mosque.
“They were out for a walk and they were out every day,” Khan said, crying near the site. “I just wanted to see.”
Qazi Khalil said he saw the family living nearby on Thursday when they were out for a walk.
“It totally destroyed me from the inside,” Khalil said. “I really can’t come to terms with them not being here anymore.”
Holder said the flags will be lowered for three days in the city, which he said has between 30,000 and 40,000 Muslims out of more than 400,000 residents.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a tweet: “To the Muslim community in London and Muslims across the country, know that we stand with you.
“Islamophobia has no place in any of our societies. This hatred is malicious and despicable – and it must stop,” he added.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims said in a statement that it was “extremely appalling and demanding justice” for the victims who “goed out for a walk” on a warm spring evening.
“This is a terrorist attack on Canadian soil and it must be dealt with as such,” council head Mustafa Farouk was quoted by AFP as telling Radio Canada.
The Canadian Muslim League also called on the authorities to “prosecute this horrific attack as an act of hate and terrorism.”
“There is no place for hate and Islamophobia in Ontario,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a tweet. These heinous acts of violence must stop.”
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The attack brought back painful memories of a mass shooting at a Quebec City mosque in January 2017 when a 27-year-old white supremacist opened fire on worshippers, killing six men and seriously wounding five others.
At the time, before the New Zealand mosque shootings in March 2019, this was the worst attack on Muslims in the West.
The shooter, Alexandre Bissonnette, was sentenced to 40 years in prison, but that was reduced on appeal, and his sentence is now being reviewed by the Supreme Court.
On April 23, 2018, a 28-year-old man drove a pedestrian with a rented pickup truck, killing 10 people.
Prior to this attack, Alec Minassian posted on Facebook a reference to an online community of “involuntary bachelors” whose sexual frustrations led them to adopt an anti-women ideology.
Minassian was convicted in March of the 10 murders and the attempted murder of 16 others. He will be sentenced in January 2022.
This report originally appeared in the New York Post.
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