A white rental van plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in Toronto, Canada a short time ago, hitting as many as ten people. The driver of the van drove off but was confronted by police a short time later. He pulled out what appeared to be a gun but officers did not fire on him. He has been arrested. Authorities haven’t released anything else about the suspect or his possible motive so far but this certainly seems reminiscent of the attack in New York last year which also utilized a rental truck.

Collision, numerous pedestrians have been struck by a white van on Yonge St and Finch area. further when I get more. #GO725711 ^gl

— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) April 23, 2018

The van involved in multiple pedestrians stuck in the Yonge and Finch area of Toronto has been located and the driver arrested. ^sm

— Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) April 23, 2018

Here, from Sky News, is the scene where the attack took place. If you stick with this clip, there’s an eyewitness who was in one of the buildings overlooking the scene who says the van seemed to be hitting pedestrians deliberately.

Police in #Toronto say a van has struck at least eight pedestrians in the city – witness Henri Miller describes the incident pic.twitter.com/47f20FsDA9

— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 23, 2018

Sky News also has this eyewitness report:

Diego Dematos was driving on Yonge street in the opposite direction to the van and witnessed the vehicle collide with pedestrians.

“We saw the last few people get hit that’s when we were driving north on Yonge Street which is one of the busiest streets in Toronto. I’m still a little bit shaken so sorry if I don’t speak properly.

“We actually saw when the van hit the last few people that were on the sidewalk. We thought it was just a hit and run. He kept driving… all I could see was dead bodies on the floor…

“For sure a lot of them had really bad injuries and two or three I can’t confirm if they were dead on the side of the road”.

Another eyewitness was badly shaken up after witnessing the attack. “This is some serious terrorism stuff right here that he did.”

This witness said the driver of the van "just started hitting everybody." https://t.co/Jx5EMJ71og

— Veronica Rocha (@VeronicaRochaLA) April 23, 2018

Some images from the aftermath:

#Breaking news!!! 8 to 10 pedestrians struck by van near Yonge and Finch area. This is insane 😮 #Toronto pic.twitter.com/6GmjWVJ3V8

— Mary Tan (@MaryTanMissAsia) April 23, 2018

There is some gruesome video of the aftermath of this attack on the street. I won’t post it because not everyone wants to see that sort of thing but here’s a link. As for the driver, he got out of the van and pointed something at police. Here’s a video showing the standoff from above:

Breaking: An unconfirmed video shows a man pointing a possible weapon at police before getting arrested near the scene of the Toronto van ramming. Police say that the suspect is in custody. pic.twitter.com/uqqx7SP7nY

— PM Breaking News (@PMBreakingNews) April 23, 2018

Here’s how that looked from the ground:

https://twitter.com/NewsNerve/status/988494765871247361

Incredibly, he wasn’t shot but was taken to the ground and arrested. Here’s another video showing him being searched near a police car:

Yonge and Finch driver and rental van caught @CP24 @CityNews @CTVToronto @globalnewsto @CBCToronto @ pic.twitter.com/dVJpVUUNX3

— Waqas (@waqas_mahmud) April 23, 2018

I’ll update this post as more information becomes available.

Here’s an update on the injuries:

#UPDATE From the sky the @CTVNews helicopter counting at least 8-bodies covered with tarps in Toronto. Witnesses at area hospital saying several people brought in with catastrophic injuries. #TorontoAttack pic.twitter.com/T6WiJpvZvI

— Peter Akman (@PeterAkman) April 23, 2018

#UPDATE – White van attack in Toronto
Victims update from @Sunnybrook:
-4 in critical condition
-1 arrived without vital signs
-1 in serious condition
-1 in fair condition#TorontoAttack @CTVNews

— Peter Akman (@PeterAkman) April 23, 2018

Update: First confirmation this is what it looks like:

Former NYC Police commissioner Bill Bratton states on @MSNBC his sources in Canada say van driver in #Toronto was known to Police and now consider incident a terrorist attack. Motivation and affiliation unknown.

— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) April 23, 2018

This is coming from “sources” not directly from authorities so far. Sometimes early reports are wrong so take it with at least a small grain of salt.

Update: Authorities in Canada are still saying it’s too soon to say:

#UPDATE: Canada’s minister of public safety says it’s too soon to say whether the crash of a van into pedestrians in Toronto is a case of international terrorism. https://t.co/6ZJ86JrdGp pic.twitter.com/hOgXGZ8U0S

— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) April 23, 2018

Update: The Toronto Star is reporting at least 4 dead:

#UPDATE: At least four people have been killed and many more injured after a van ran down pedestrians along Yonge St. between Finch and Sheppard Aves. on Monday afternoon.https://t.co/hvrDnQHGB0

— Toronto Star (@TorontoStar) April 23, 2018

Update: Toronto police are giving a press conference. They just announced that 9 people are dead and 16 were injured. The announcement of the death toll comes at 6:30 in this clip:

Update: The suspect has been named as Alek Minassian:

The driver of the van that struck pedestrians in Toronto, killing at least nine, has been identified as Alek Minassian, sources say https://t.co/R2kMMJueIP pic.twitter.com/nF3Wumtild

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) April 23, 2018

According to at least on NBC reporter, the leading theory now is not terrorism but mental illness:

Three sources tell us: Toronto suspect is Alek Minassian, 25 Years Old, deliberate act influenced by mental illness leading theory. He allegedly researched past 2014 incident in CA.

— jonathan dienst (@jonathan4ny) April 23, 2018

More Toronto: suspect allegedly researched and chatted online about Isla Vista killings from 2014. Mental illness, not terror, a leading theory for today’s incident, according to three officials.

— jonathan dienst (@jonathan4ny) April 23, 2018