Renuka Amarasinghe started a new job on the same day
Alek Minassian, the man who plowed 10 people to death with a rental van last April, including a Sri Lankan-born woman of one child, said a lack of attention from women drove him to commit the crime.
The attack, the worst mass murder in Toronto’s history, also injured 16 others. Many office workers were enjoying a lunch break along the bustling stretch of the Yonge Street, on April 23, 2018 when the horrible incident took place.
He told the detective the only reason he halted the attack was that someone’s drink had hit the windshield and reduced visibility, and that his goal had been “suicide by cop.”
In his recollection, his anger toward women began with a humiliating encounter at a Halloween party in 2013, in which girls he’d attempted to strike up a conversation with, laughed at him, he had told the investigators.
In a 37-second video that went viral after the attack, a police officer was heard saying ”Come on, get down,” after drawing his weapon. “Kill me,” the man said in between making quick-draw motions with his arm. “I have a gun in my pocket,” the man said. “I don’t care. Get down,” the officer responded. “Get down or you’ll be shot.”
The officer did not fire. He holstered his gun and took out a baton as he inched toward the suspect who threw the object in his hand and laid down on the sidewalk where the officer handcuffed him.
A GOFUNDME page started by the Sri Lankan community collected $209,649 in one day in aid of her seven-year-old child Diyon. The total topped over $300,000 in a couple of days.
The Sri Lankan community came to know that she was a victim of the truck attack only after police recovered her cellphone from the crime scene. She had started her new job in a nearby school on the same day.
Minassian, who faces 10 charges of first-degree murder and 16 of attempted murder, is scheduled to stand trial in February 2020. He will be tried by judge alone. The judge who ordered the transcript and video released, said Minassian has not disputed that he was driving the van that day, and that his trial will focus on his mental state at the time of the attack.
A detective who was interrogating him hours after the attack had asked: “Ten people died here today. Fifteen people were seriously injured. I think it’s important to ask how you feel about that”. “I feel like I accomplished my mission,” Minassian said.
Posing another question what he would say to the families of the victims if they were in the room with them. Would he apologize? “I honestly don’t know,” he said.
Police officially listed the names of eight women and two males perished in the attack. They are: Renuka Amarasinghe, 47 of Toronto, Andrea Bradden, 33 of Woodbridge, Geraldine Brady, 83 of Toronto, So He Chung, 22, a student from Korea, Anne Marie D’Amico, 30 of Toronto, Mary Elizabeth Forsyth, 94 of Toronto, Ji Hun Kim, 22 of Toronto, Dorothy Sewell, 80 of Toronto, Chul Min Kang, 45 of Toronto, Munir Abdo Habib Najjar, 85, who was visiting from Jordan. – newstrails.com
