Eight teenage girls have been charged with the second-degree murder of a 59-year-old man in downtown Toronto.
On Sunday, Dec. 18, police reported the stabbing of a man on York Street and University Avenue around 12:17 a.m.
Toronto police said the group consisted of three 13-year-olds, three 14-year-olds, and two 16-year-olds who allegedly assaulted and stabbed a man repeatedly. He was then taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and died shortly after.
Det. Sgt. Terry Browne said in a press conference that a group of people flagged down emergency medical services shortly after the assault.
Police then located and arrested the group of girls in a nearby location while securing a number of weapons.
The individuals cannot be identified under the terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
“These eight individuals, from what we’ve gathered so far, is that they met through social media,” Browne said in reply to a question from a journalist. “They come from varying parts of the city – that is to say they are not from one specific geographic location. We don’t know how they met on that evening, and why the destination was downtown Toronto.”
Browne also added that he wouldn’t quite classify them as a gang at this point. He instead said that the incident could be classified as a swarming.
Three of the eight individuals had “prior contact” with the police but the remaining five were unknown to the police.
The victim had recently moved into Toronto’s shelter system and Browne said he had a supportive family behind him. He refused to call him “homeless,” instead implying that he had fallen on hard times.
The girls appeared in court on Dec. 18 and are set to appear once again on Dec. 29.
Source: Complex.com