Yahoo News 'Sexually frustrated' Toronto man accused of murdering 10 people in van attack 'wanted to kill people who had sex'
A man accused of using a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto told police he belonged to an online community of sexually frustrated men who plot attacks against people who have sex.
Alek Minassian is facing 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder in connection with the attack on April 23, 2018.
The 26-year-old is accused of driving a rental van into crowds of pedestrians in a busy north Toronto neighbourhood, killing eight women and two men aged between 22 and 94.
The attack drew global attention onto the “incel” community - a hostile online community of “involuntary celibate” men who lack romantic relationships and sex.
Members of the “incel” community hold extreme misogynistic views, blame women for rejecting them and often espouse violence against the public.
Minassion will stand trial in February but after a publication ban was lifted, a video of his interrogation by police just hours after the attack has been released.
The footage shows him describing the online community of sexually frustrated men.
Asked by a detective how he felt about the death of 10 people, he said: “I feel like I accomplished my mission.”
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Toronto attack: What exactly is an 'incel'?
Minassian, who said he had never had a girlfriend and was a virgin, admitted he used the van as a weapon and said he wanted to inspire more attacks.
“I know of several other guys over the internet who feel the same way,” he said.
The 26-year-old, who has yet to enter a plea, refers to himself as an “incel”.
Incel has become a buzzword for certain men infuriated at being rejected by women and who float ideas for violent payback, according to sociologists.
Participants in internet forums sometimes use “Chad” and “Stacy” as dismissive slang for men and women who are attractive and have active sex lives.
Minassian said he discussed his sexual frustrations on the website 4chan, which has become notorious as a place for extremists to post their views.
He said he had been in contact with Elliot Rodger, a community college student who killed six people and wounded 13 in shooting and stabbing attacks in 2014 near the University of California, Santa Barbara, before apparently shooting himself.
Rodger had railed in a manifesto and online videos about women who shunned him and called for an incel “overthrow” of what he saw as feminist domination.
Minassian said he became “radicalised” around the time of the Rodger attack.
“I felt it was time to take action and not just sit on the sidelines and just fester in my own sadness,” he said.
Minassian also said that in 2013 he went to a Halloween party and was laughed at by women with whom he tried to socialise. He said he was upset the women gave affection to bigger men.
“I was angry that they would give their love and affection to obnoxious brutes,” he said.
