2018 Toronto van attack

On April 23, 2018, a vehicle-ramming attack occurred when a rented van was driven along Yonge Street through the North York City Centre business district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The driver, 25-year-old Alek Minassian, targeted pedestrians over a route beginning at Yonge Street and Finch Avenue and continuing south along the sidewalks toward Sheppard Avenue. Eleven people were killed and fifteen others were injured, some critically. Nine of the eleven people killed were women. The dead ranged in age from 22 to 94 and included two South Korean nationals and a Jordanian national; the injured ranged in age from 21 to 90 and included citizens of South Korea, Iran, and Russia. Nine people died at the scene, a tenth death was announced by Toronto Police the same evening, and an eleventh victim died on October 28, 2021, after being paralyzed from the neck down and never leaving the hospital.

According to the reconstructed timeline, Minassian was dropped off by his father near a Woodbridge bookstore, walked to a rental location, and picked up a van he had reserved two weeks earlier, telling staff he needed it to move furniture. He drove to Yonge Street and, upon reaching Finch Avenue, moved onto the sidewalk and began striking pedestrians, continuing intermittently on and off the sidewalk over roughly 2.3 kilometres. The attack ended when Toronto Police Service Constable Ken Lam intercepted Minassian's van on Poyntz Avenue. Minassian exited the vehicle, attempted to provoke Lam into shooting him by pointing a wallet as if it were a weapon, and was arrested without further violence at 1:32 p.m.

Some observers labeled the attack misogynist terrorism, noting that Minassian identified himself as an "incel" and invoked Elliot Rodger, perpetrator of the 2014 Isla Vista killings, in a Facebook post shortly before the attack. Minassian was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder. At trial, which began November 10, 2020, and was conducted over Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Minassian admitted to planning and carrying out the attack but pleaded not criminally responsible. His defence pointed to his autism diagnosis, a position criticized by autism rights advocates. Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy found that pinpointing Minassian's exact motive was "close to impossible" but that expert testimony suggested a desire for notoriety, and rejected the autism-based defence. On March 3, 2021, Minassian was found guilty on all counts. Sentencing was deferred pending a related Supreme Court of Canada decision, and on June 13, 2022, he was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. He filed a notice of appeal the following month.

The attack prompted heightened security at a G7 security ministers' meeting in Toronto, closures of transit and civic buildings, and was later referenced in a Canadian government report on terrorism threats. The City of Toronto established the #TorontoStrong Fund to support victims, and public vigils and memorials were held in the following weeks.