Police Are Treating a Fatal Hammer Attack as Terrorism, But Not Mass Killings

On February 21, Hang-Kam Annie Chiu was walking in north Toronto when she was viciously attacked by a man with a hammer, killing her. That same night, Pakistan-born Saad Akhtar, 30, would surrender at a nearby police station. Akhtar was arrested and charged with first-degree murder for the death of Chiu.

On April 23, 2018, a rental van mounted the sidewalk in Toronto and plowed its way through pedestrians. It was one of the most horrific attacks in Canadian history, 10 were killed and 16 injured. Eventually, after failing to get killed by police, Alek Minassian, 27, would be arrested. Minassian would be charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder. In a message left before the attack and in a lengthy interrogation with police, Minassian said that he subscribed to the ideology of the incels—the involuntary celibate subculture—and the attacks were driven by his hatred of women.

On January 29, 2017, Alexandre Bissonnette walked into a Quebec City mosque and murdered six Muslim men in cold blood. Bissonnette was arrested and charged with six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder. Bissonnette plead guilty and received life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 40 years. Bissonnette said the reason he targeted the mosque was that far-right figures convinced him that refugees coming to Canada were going to be a threat to him and his family.

Kurgen

Article URL : https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/dygwpw/police-are-treating-a-fatal-hammer-attack-as-terrorism-but-not-mass-killings