SandyMaloneToronto, Canada – Nine people are dead and 16 more have been injured after van intentionally ran over them in Toronto on Monday afternoon (video below).
A white rental van mowed down pedestrians over a mile-long swath of busy city street, CNN reported.
A law enforcement official source told CNN that they believed the driver hit the pedestrians intentionally, and that no medical issues were indicated.
Canadian Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale said it was too soon to determine if the crash was a case of international terrorism, CBS News reported.
However, former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton told MSNBC that sources have told him that the incident is being investigated as an act of terrorism.
The incident occurred as cabinet ministers from the all the major industrial countries met in Canada to discuss a range of international issues in the run-up to the G7 meeting near Quebec City in June, CBS News reported.
Canada had not changed its terrorism alert level and the minister said he had no information that would indicate the need to do so.
After he finished terrorizing people on the streets north of downtown Toronto, the driver stopped his van on a sidewalk.
The van was located by police, and the suspect was taken into custody after a brief standoff where he appeared to be pointing a gun at an officer.
The standoff was recorded on cell phone video (below.)
In the video, the van’s driver was seen standing on a city sidewalk pointing what is believed to be a gun at a police officer.
“Get down. Get down or you’ll be shot,” the officer yelled at the armed man.
The officer began approaching the man in the video just as the person filming turned the camera away for a few seconds.
When the focus returned to the scene of the incident, the armed man had been taken to the ground and the officer was putting handcuffs on him.
Authorities have said they do not know what motivated the attack.
“At this point it’s too early to tell what if any motive there was. We are also unable right now to tell the extent or the number of persons injured,” Toronto Police Spokeswoman Meaghan Gray said.
The Toronto police had shut down a major intersection where the incident occurred, and suspended subway service through the affected area, CBS reported.
“I can assure the public all our available resources have been brought in to address this tragic situation and to investigate this situation,” Toronto Police Deputy Chief Peter Yuen.
The city has established two hotlines – one for people looking for family members and one for witnesses, Chief Yuen said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted his condolences to those affected by the tragedy.
You can see the video of the standoff below: