Driver who hit and killed 4 pedestrians in Ontario targeted them for being Muslim

https://www.yahoo.com/news/police-dr...193306045.html

Police say a driver who hit and killed 4 pedestrians in Ontario targeted them because they were Muslim

Kelly McLaughlin

Mon, June 7, 2021, 12:33 PM·2 min read

What it takes for something to be labeled a hate crime, according to experts
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Police told the CBC that the victims were "targeted because of their Islamic faith."

A 20-year-old man has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

Canadian police say a hit-and-run driver who killed four pedestrians in Ontario on Sunday targeted the victims because they were Muslim.

London, Ontario police said in a press release that a 20-year-old man is accused of killing three adults and one teenager and injuring a child in the hit-and-run on Sunday.

Police told the CBC that the fatal crash was a hate crime and that victims were "targeted because of their Islamic faith."

Nathaniel Veltman, 20, of London, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder, according to the CBC.

Veltman may also face terrorism charges, Det.-Insp. Paul Waight said at a Monday press conference.

Authorities said Veltman was charged with first-degree murder because the crime was "pre-planned and premeditated." Police reportedly gathered a "variety of sources," including online information to determine the crime was hate-motivated.

CBC reported that Veltman has no previous record.

He was wearing a body-armor-like vest when police arrested him Monday, according to the outlet.

All the victims are members of the same family. Among the dead are a 74-year-old woman, a 46-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman, and a 15-year-old girl.

A nine-year-old boy who remains in the hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries is the only survivor. According to CBC journalist Carol Off, the young boy doesn't yet know his parents and grandmother are dead.

London Mayor Ed Holder on Monday said the murder was the worst crime of its kind in London's history.

"This was an act was mass murder, perpetrated against Muslims, against Londoners and rooted in unspeakable hatred," Holder said. "This act of unspeakable hatred, this act of Islamophobia, must be followed by acts of compassion, acts of kindness, acts of empathy, acts of solidarity - justice - and, above all else, love."