London (SD) a driver rammed his truck into a family of five, killing four of them and seriously injuring another on Monday, Canadian police said the attack was a deliberate on the Muslims family.
Authorities say the driver, a young man, was arrested near the crash scene Sunday night in London, Ontario.
The driver “was wearing a vest that appeared to be like body armour,” Detective Superintendent Paul Waight said at a Monday news conference.
Nathaniel Veltman, 20, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one of attempted murder. Police knew of no previous connection between the assailant and the Muslim victims.
“This killing was no accident. This was a terrorist attack,” Trudeau said in a speech in the House of Commons.
The Quebec City mosque massacre, the September murder of a man at a Rexdale, Ont. mosque and multiple less violent — but still alarming — episodes like the recent harassment of Black Muslim women in Edmonton reveal a troubling streak of Islamophobia in Canada, Trudeau said.
The governor of Ontario Doug Ford and the mayor of London, Ontario have also condemned the killing of a Muslim family.
Saboor Khan, who knew the family, told media he is now frightened for the Muslim community.
“I am afraid for my children, for my community, for anyone who wears the hijab, who dresses in a traditional Muslim way,” he told the CBC.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford both confirmed their attendance of a vigil for the five members of the Muslim family who were the victims of the deliberate attack.
A statement from the family identifies those lost as the Afzaal family. Salman Afzaal, his wife Madiha and their daughter Yumna, along with Yumna’s grandmother all died in the attack. Their son, nine-year-old Fayez was seriously injured.
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