A group of eight teenage girls have been accused of stabbing a 59-year-old man to death on a street in Ontario, Canada, in what police called a “swarm” attack.
The girls, ages 13 to 16, were arrested shortly after the Sunday morning stabbing in downtown Toronto. Each is charged with second-degree murder, police said.
The girls, who have not been identified due to their ages, allegedly met through social media and gathered from different parts of the city. It is not clear why they decided to meet on that night and in that place. “A number of weapons” were recovered, police said at a news conference on Tuesday.
“I wouldn’t describe them as a gang now, but back then [is] likely occurred that evening would be consistent with what we would call a swarm or swarm-like behavior,” said Toronto police Detective Sgt. Terry Brown.
There is no evidence the girls knew their alleged victim, who Browne said had recently moved into the shelter system but had a “very supportive family” in the area.
“I wouldn’t necessarily call him homeless, maybe just recently he’s been lucky,” she said. The man has not been identified due to family notification.
Browne said the girls were first involved in a separate altercation around 10pm on Saturday before moving on to the latest alleged victim just after midnight.
The victim was talking to another person on the street corner when the girls approached him and attacked him, he told CBC News.
A woman who lives at a local homeless shelter told a local news station that she was having a cigarette with the man outside a shelter when the girls approached and tried to take alcohol from her. The man intervened, telling them to leave her alone, and they began beating him repeatedly.
“He protected me,” she said of the man. “I think they stabbed him in the stomach.”
Browne asked anyone who witnessed the attack or altercation to contact authorities.
“I think it would be easy to identify because these two interactions involved what would be described as criminal behavior,” Browne said.
Three of the girls had previous contact with the police, but the others had not, she said.
Their next court hearing is set for December 29.
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