Toronto van killings: Police officer hailed as 'hero' after arresting suspect who begged to be shot without firing gun - Independent

April 24, 2018

Toronto van killings: Police officer hailed as 'hero' after arresting suspect who begged to be shot without firing gun
Video shows police officer staring down suspect at gunpoint in the middle of a road while he pointed what appeared to be a gun and shouted 'Kill me'

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A police officer has been praised as a “hero” for calmly confronting the suspected Toronto van crash driver.

Video footage showed the police officer staring down the suspect, later identified as Alek Minassian, at gunpoint in the middle of a road, while he pointed what appeared to be a gun and shouted, “Kill me”.

Images broadcast by Canadian media showed the suspect pulling an object from his side a number of times, and aiming at the officer.

As the suspect shouted “Kill me”, the unnamed officer replied, “No, get down”. When the suspect then said, “I have a gun in my pocket,” the officer responded, ”I don’t care. Get down”.

Picture of suspect emerges after van ploughs into crowd in Toronto
Eventually Mr Minassian was seen to turn around with his hands in the air, and then to lie on the ground.

The 25-year-old suspect was arrested “without incident”, authorities later said, and the non-violent end to the confrontation won praise from viewers.

Mr Minassian is believed to have been behind the wheel of a rented white van which mowed down pedestrians in Toronto on Monday afternoon. Ten people were killed and another 15 injured.

He is due in court at 10am local time, when police said they would reveal further details.

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A lone police officer (R) confronts the man suspected of driving a van into pedestrians in Toronto (L) as he points an object that looks like a gun (rayy0889/Twitter/Screengrab)

One Twitter user said “Thank you to the officer who showed composure, courage and ethics”, while Lauren Ash, an actor, added that the officer “showed the world that he could do his job effectively without immediate deadly force”.

Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association, told The Globe and Mail: “This officer looked at what was going on and determined he could handle it the way that he did. People are right, this guy is a hero.”

Gary Clement, a retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police superintendent with 34 years’ experience of policing, said it was “quite clear” Mr Minassian wanted to goad the officer into shooting him.

“I would say this individual met the right police officer,” Mr Clement added. “Nobody knows how they’re going to react. In this situation a lot of it comes down to muscle memory. This guy reacted in a very mature manner.”