Genocide: Massacres, torture, expulsion: Other incidents: On June 6, 2021, 20-year-old Nathaniel Veltman rammed a pickup truck into a family of Muslim Pakistani Canadian pedestrians at an intersection in London, Ontario, Canada.
In February 2024, a judge ruled that the attack amounted to terrorism under Canadian law and sentenced Veltman to five terms of life imprisonment.
[2][3] A witness described being stopped at a red light when the truck sped past her, shaking her car from the force.
[11] According to a co-worker from Gray Ridge Egg Farms, Veltman was having issues with the steering of his new truck three days before the attack.
[15] At 8:44 p.m., the pickup truck approached a cab parked at Cherryhill Village Mall, about 7 km (4.3 mi) away from the attack.
[16] Speaking on behalf of the traumatized driver, Yellow Taxi London president Hassan Savehilaghi described Veltman as wearing a military-style helmet and a bullet-proof vest which may have been tagged with swastikas, and the truck was covered with blood.
[12] The perpetrator surrendered to London city police as they arrived in the parking lot at 8:46 p.m.[17] The arresting officer said that the suspect "did not appear upset at all", instead, he was "happy, smiling, ... [and] giddy".
[18][19] He was wearing a body-armour-style vest at the time of his arrest,[20] a white T-shirt with a cross spray painted on it,[18] and might have participated in an airsoft shooting game that evening before the collision.
[23] The second motivation was to act as an example to other white nationalists to commit copycat crimes with vehicles and "inspire more young men to stop sitting around and letting this happen".
[27] By June 9, London police had consulted with the RCMP, the Ministry of the Attorney General and Public Prosecution Service of Canada and determined they would lay terrorism charges, adding that they believed the perpetrator acted alone.
Murray Faulkner, retired chief of the London Police Service, pointed out that these were unusual charges as Canadian terror laws are generally designed to prevent imminent threats, not prosecute done deeds.
Conviction under terrorism laws requires 1) a criminal act; 2) a political or ideological motives; and 3) most importantly, an intent to frighten or intimidate the public.
[28][29] The perpetrator was 20-year-old Nathaniel Veltman, who worked at an egg-packing facility in Strathroy and lived in an apartment on Covent Market Place in downtown London.
[30] The perpetrator enrolled in the Strathroy District Collegiate Institute for his last two years of high school as his mother filed for divorce.
[30] Divorce records show that the perpetrator was prone to anger, medicated for mental illness, and seen by his parents as "peculiar and challenging", with both agreeing he should continue therapy and be supervised around his younger siblings.
[32] Co-workers said the alleged murders and motivation seemed out-of-character and unexpected, one denying Veltman is a radical terrorist or Islamophobe.
A party member and farmer reached out to him noting his anguish and distress and increased isolation with the COVID-19 pandemic, but did not know of his racist and violent tendencies.
They planned to meet for Christmas, but Veltman declared that he was too broke to put windshield wiper fluid in his car and couldn't make the drive.
[42] On November 16, 2023, the end of testimony and sequestering of the jury for deliberations led to a lifting on a publication ban on evidence withheld in the trial.
It's expected that the hearings will include 68 victim impact statements as well as findings of fact from the judge on terrorism charges that could determine the eligibility of the perpetrator for parole.
[52] The attack was condemned by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,[52] the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi,[53] the National Council of Canadian Muslims[26] and Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan[54] all of whom called it an act of terrorism motivated by hatred.