One confirmed dead, at least seven in critical condition after van hits pedes...

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One confirmed dead, at least seven in critical condition after van hits pedestrians in north Toronto

[size=1.125]Multiple bodies are covered with tarps, and one person has been confirmed dead in hospital with several more in critical condition, after a rental van mowed down pedestrians for close to three kilometers in North York Monday afternoon.

[size=1.125]Emergency crews were called to Yonge Street and Finch Avenue East, near the North York Civic Centre, around 1:30 p.m., after a white van mounted the sidewalk and struck a number of people.

[size=1.125]Aerial footage from the scene shows multiple victims covered with blankets.

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[size=1.125]The van, which had a Ryder Truck Rental and Leasing logo on its side, fled the area, making it roughly three kilometers before being stopped on the sidewalk near Poyntz Avenue. It had severe front-end damage.

[size=1.125]Police have not released any information about the cause of the crash. The driver is reportedly in custody.

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[size=0.875]Frame grab from Twitter video of possible suspect being arrested in an incident involving a van striking several pedestrians in Toronto's Yonge and Finch. Clark Hua Zhang/Twitter

[size=0.75]CLARK HUA ZHANG/TWITTER

[size=1.125]The driver of the van was taken into custody after he got out of the vehicle and pointed what appeared to be a handgun at a police office, according to an witness and videos posted on Twitter.

[size=1.125]The man was walking towards the officer, pointing at him with something in his hand but dropped the object on the pavement as he obeyed the officer’s order to get down on the ground.

[size=1.125]An eyewitness video showed a man being arrested near a white van on a sidewalk. The man was walking towards the officer, pointing at him with something in his hand but dropped the object on the pavement as he heeded the officer’s order to get down on the ground. Two videos show the man being arrested.

[size=1.125]One witness, named Ali, told reporters that when he saw the van veer onto the sidewalk he thought the driver of the van had a heart attack .

[size=1.125]But then he realized the van, which he estimated was going at speed of up to 70 kilometres per hour, was intentionally hitting people.

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[size=1.125]“People were getting hit, one after the other,” a tearful Ali said.

[size=1.125]He saw a stroller fly in the air. There were also elderly victims because there is a retirement home nearby, he said. As soon as he could stop, he called his father, who often went for strolls in the area, to make sure he wasn’t among the victims.

[size=1.125]Another witness, Wisam -- who asked that only his first name to be used -- had just left the Whole Foods store at Yonge and Sheppard with a colleague, when they noticed the sound of cars honking and emergency vehicle sirens.

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[size=0.875]Police are investigating after a van slammed into a group of pedestrians in North Toronto.

[size=0.75]MIKE DROULET/GLOBALTV/MIKE DROULET/ GLOBAL TV

[size=1.125]They stopped on the sidewalk and saw, from across the street, a white van with a “Ryder” logo on it driving along the sidewalk towards Yonge Street.

[size=1.125]“You could see the face of the van was already smashed. There was no grill. I think there were no lights either,” he said.

[size=1.125]“There was a squeaking noise,” coming from the van, he said. “Maybe the squeaking of the tires, or from the engine.”

[size=1.125]Instead of stopping at Yonge, the driver of the van continued along the sidewalk, cutting the corner in front of a Tim Hortons, and crashing through a bench and a Green P sign. “The bench on the street was completely bent backwards,” he said.

[size=1.125]The van continued along the sidewalk down Yonge, eventually turning right onto Poyntz Avenue.

[size=1.125]Wisam and his colleague followed, and by the time they arrived at the intersection of Yonge and Poyntz, they saw the van parked on the sidewalk. A man was laying on the sidewalk directly outside of the van, pinned down by police officers.

[size=1.125]At the time, Wisam had no idea what he had just witnessed. He assumed it had been an ordinary hit-and-run. “I was like, ’This is Hollywood … We just thought it was some idiot running away from a hit and run.”

[size=1.125]The busy area was chaotic as police attempted to tape off the surrounding streets. TTC service in the area has been suspended.

[size=1.125]Bryan Jenkins was on his way home from work, coming out of the subway as the chaos began. “It was chaos, people screaming everywhere. Like people were hysterical, you know,” he said.

[size=1.125]Dozens of police cruisers had flooded the area by 3 p.m., and an EMS bus has been brought in along with multiple ambulances to treat victims.

[size=1.125]Seven patients were transported from the scene to the trauma centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, the hospital said in a statement.

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[size=0.875]Different videos posted to Twitter show a man being arrested in possible relation to an incident where a van mowed down pedestrians in Toronto's north.

[size=1.125]The hospital has locked down its emergency department, “as an added precaution.” The hospital has also activated its emergency operations centre.

[size=1.125]Staff were meeting Monday afternoon to make sure there are enough beds available for the injured.

[size=1.125]Traffic is being “controlled” outside the hospital’s main campus on Bayview Avenue.

[size=1.125]Sheldon Taerk happened to be at the hospital for an unrelated matter when the victims started arriving. Outside the hospital, he described how hard the staff were working to revive victims.

[size=1.125]“They’re all working so hard in there,” he said tearfully.

[size=1.125]In Ontario, potential acts of terrorism are investigated by RCMP-led national-security squads. “At this point we are still gathering information on the incident and once we have the ability to do a press release we will do so,” RCMP said Inspector Don Halina, of the Ontario Integrated National Security Enforcement Team. ​

[size=1.125]Word of the incident came just as Mayor John Tory was speaking to a business luncheon in Scarborough.

[size=1.125]“There has been in the Yonge and Finch area a very tragic episode that’s occurred involving a number of pedestrians and a vehicle,” Mr. Tory said, just minutes after the first reports came in. “I won’t speculate this moment in time how many people have been directly affected but it’s multiple people ... I will just say at the outset that of course our prayers and our thoughts are with the people that have been affected by this, the pedestrians in particular. And with our emergency responders ... At the moment we have no knowledge of exactly how this came about or what lay behind it.”

[size=1.125]Dozens of police cruisers have flooded the area, and an EMS bus has been brought in along with multiple ambulances to treat victims. At least eight ambulances have reportedly transported patients to Sunnybrook Hospital.

[size=1.125]Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons that “our hearts go out to anyone effected. We will have more to learn and more to say in the coming hours.”

[size=1.125]The busy area was chaotic as police attempted to tape off the surrounding streets. TTC service in the area has been suspended.

[size=1.125]The area has been taped off by investigators and TTC service in the area has been suspended.

[size=1.125]Police have not released any information about a potential cause of the crash.

[size=1.125]Canada has had other recent attacks involving vehicles.

[size=1.125]Last September in Edmonton, an assailant stabbed a police officer and struck four others in a rental van outside a football game. No one died. Abdulahi Hasan Sharif, 30, has been found fit to stand trial on 11 charges including attempted murder.

[size=1.125]In October 2014, Martin Couture-Rouleau, 25, drove into two Canadian soldiers. Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent died and the attacker was killed by police a few minutes later.

[size=1.125]The deadliest vehicle-ramming attacks have taken place in the United States and Europe since Al Qaeda’s 2006 call for Western recruits to use trucks as weapons, and after ISIS renewed the call in 2014 for lone wolves to improvise weaponry.

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