BUMPED THREAD - Van hits pedestrians in Toronto - 10 dead, 16 more injured

[robkelk]

I'm going to start this thread here, just because I'm in a pessimistic mood.

At least seven injured when van jumps the curb in Toronto.

No confirmed fatalities - yet. Driver is in custody.

Location of incident on Google Maps

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Press conference announced for 4:30 Eastern Time.

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Same URL as above, article updated.

A witness told police that eight to 10 people were hit, according to Toronto police spokesperson Gary Long.

A spokesperson for Sunnybrook Hospital on Bayview Avenue said seven patients had been brought to its trauma centre and that its emergency department had been locked down as a precaution.

The extent of their injuries wasn't immediately known.

A witness said separately that he had seen at least four bodies lying covered on the ground after the events, and that the people hit included a man who was crossing the street and others on the sidewalk.

So it's highly unlikely that there were no fatalities.

The Toronto Transit Commission, meanwhile, suspended Line 1 subway service between Sheppard and Finch stations and said there would be no shuttle bus service.

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Update: Toronto police say 9 dead, 16 injured.

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National threat level not yet being raised.
(The G7 foreign and security ministers meeting is currently taking place in Toronto.)

[robkelk]

My complements to the arresting officer. Despite multiple provocations by the suspect who loudly claimed to have a gun and pointed something at the officer, the officer did not open fire.

[DHBirr]

My complements to the arresting officer. Despite multiple provocations by the suspect who loudly claimed to have a gun and pointed something at the officer, the officer did not open fire.

That's un-American! 

*****
Little-known fact:  "Australia" is actually an abbreviated form.  The land's full name is "AauuuggghhhhAAUUGGHHHHHstralia <whimper>."

[robkelk]

My complements to the arresting officer. Despite multiple provocations by the suspect who loudly claimed to have a gun and pointed something at the officer, the officer did not open fire.

That's un-American! 

Yes, I suppose it is. That's a pity.

[robkelk]

The death toll is now ten.

[robkelk]

We now know who the arresting officer is: Constable Ken Lam.

CBC also has better-quality footage of the arrest.

"Hats off, kudos to the officer. He clearly received very good training," said Phil Gurski, a former CSIS analyst and president and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting. "He followed that training to the nth degree. And he was able to neutralize a guy who had just carried out a heinous attack.

"Now the guy is alive, he's not dead, which means you can question him and you can hopefully find out why he did what he did."

[robkelk]

And it appears the G7 security conference is discussing this incident today, as a specific case of a general class of "soft target" attacks.

(Yes, the meeting is being held in Toronto. Why do you ask?)

[robkelk]

One bit of relatively good news: Toronto police miscounted the injured. There are only 14 injured, not 15.

[SilverFang01]

Any reason given for the attack yet?

[Black Aeronaut]

Apparently there's evidence on Facehook implying that this person was one of those 'incels'.

Color me disgusted. I'll be surprised if this guy doesn't get shanked or strangled in prison. (Though I'll admit that I don't know much about how prisons up north of the border work.)

[Matrix Dragon]

I have learnt things today I wish I had not. So apparently this monster is part of a group that call themselves Incels, aka 'involuntary celibates'. Also known as those horrible little shits that can't understand why women won't automatically let them stick their dick in them. Yes, they came up with a name for themselves. Incel. God, they manage to make themselves sound even more horrible and pathetic than they already did. These... walking fucknuggets believe that this murder spree was entirely justified because their fellow monster could not get a girlfriend, and some are even declaring that really, if the government assigned mandatory women to All True Men like it should be, the world would be a much better place.

How is it humanity keeps finding new and horrible ways to disgust me?

[Black Aeronaut]

Oh, it gets better. One of their favorite nicknames for themselves is 'Red Pill' - as a reference to the film The Matrix, where by the character taking the red pill he is leaving all his delusions behind.

I can understand that not having any sort of relationship with your preferred gender-counterpart can be frustrating as all hell, but these guys are utter douchebags.

Oh, and anyone else happen to notice that practically all Incels are white and voted for Trump? Would not surprise me if some of these ass hats were also white supremacists.

[Matrix Dragon]

Oh, and anyone else happen to notice that practically all Incels are white and voted for Trump?  Would not surprise me if some of these ass hats were also white supremacists.

They're already dismissing half of the human race as sex dispensers that have no right to free will solely off what's between their legs, why not declare others as less than them based off the color of their skin as well?

[SilverFang01]

So basically they are "pick-up artists" or at least adjacent to that "scene".

Sometimes I despair for humanity.

[robkelk]

...  I'll be surprised if this guy doesn't get shanked or strangled in prison.  (Though I'll admit that I don't know much about how prisons up north of the border work.)

Up here, prison guards actually guard against that sort of thing - mainly by quietly pointing out that this sort of prisoner is under intense media scrutiny and anybody who so much as injures one of them will get the book thrown at them. So... possible but highly unlikely.

[Black Aeronaut]

So basically they are "pick-up artists" or at least adjacent to that "scene".

Sometimes I despair for humanity.

They're not even at that level.  Pick-up artists are sleezes, sure, but at least they're self-conscious enough to admit it.  Incells rate far lower in that they think that their cause is righteous.

[nemonowan]

It is ironic how time makes a reality out of jokes.
This Sinfest strips date from october 2001, and now seem prescient:

[robkelk]

Related to the whole "incel" thing:

Jury finds Bill Cosby guilty of sexually assaulting a woman

[robkelk]

Bumping on the second anniversary of the attack.

The suspect's trial was supposed to begin on April 9, but the COVID-19 pandemic closed the courthouses...

[robkelk]

Close to three years after the attack, and the attacker has had his day in court.

His lawyers argued that he was "not criminally responsible" because of autism spectrum disorder leading to an inability to empathize with others.

The judge outright rejected that argument:

"He considered the impact it would have on his family, and deliberately set those thoughts aside, ignoring them, because he did not want them to deter him from achieving this important goal," she said, noting that he had been fantasizing about a crime like this for over a decade. "He was capable of understanding the impact it would have on his victims.

"He knew death would be irreversible. He knew their families would grieve."

The judge found the attacker guilty of ten counts of murder and sixteen counts of attempted murder.

The judge also made a decision that I completely agree with, and sharp-eyed readers will have already noted that I follow the same principle in this thread.

Molloy made sure to say the name and age of each of the victims in her decision. She also listed the serious, and in some cases life-changing injuries suffered by those who survived, including broken bones, bleeding on the brain and a collapsed lung.

The judge also said she would not be naming the killer in her decision and referred to him instead as "John Doe," noting that notoriety was a driving force in his crimes.

"I am acutely aware that all of this attention and media coverage is exactly what this man sought from the start," she said.

For the curious, here's the complete text of the decision - all sixty-nine pages.

[Black Aeronaut]

Close to three years after the attack, and the attacker has had his day in court.

His lawyers argued that he was "not criminally responsible" because of autism spectrum disorder leading to an inability to empathize with others.

MOTHER.  FUCKER.



Just because you're fucking autistic isn't a fucking excuse you goddamned inbred bastard.

If anything, it's the exact opposite for us on the Spectrum.  We're not incapable of empathy.  Far from it, in fact.  The problem we have is that we're hypersensitive to the world around us.  Combine that with how much trouble we have with controlling out emotions, sometimes we have have to shut down or else we wouldn't be able to function at all.

Ask anyone who is happily married to someone who is on the Spectrum.  They'll tell you.  Yeah, communication is difficult sometimes.  But once you take the time to learn "Their Language", more often than not they'll utterly destroy you in the feels every damn time.

I fucking despise shit-heels like this that use Autism as some kind of defense for being horrible.

[hazard]

What Black Aeronaut said.

Also, 'inability to empathize with others' is last I checked not actually part of the symptoms of ASS, but is part of the symptoms of psychopathy and related disorders.

Also also, if he was not criminally responsible due to insanity, which effectively was the argument made, he would be criminally insane and given that he'd already committed ten murders he'd be in definite need of confinement in a psychiatric health care facility for an undetermined amount of time until he was cured. Or at least, safe for society for him to be let out of it.

[robkelk]

Related to the whole "incel" thing:

Jury finds Bill Cosby guilty of sexually assaulting a woman

This conviction has been overturned, on the grounds that there was a verbal agreement to not charge him in the first place, which the prosecutor of the case says he was unaware of.

Y'know, for most of us, verbal agreements are worth the paper they're written on. It must be nice to be rich and famous.

[hazard]

No, governments try to be consistent in their dealings, even if it's just with verbal promises.

(For most people a verbal promise from the government is worth the paper they're written on, being rich is nice.)

[Labster]

Trump-Cosby 2022! Grabbing America by the pussy!