A Toronto police official says the man accused of driving a rental van into a crowd of pedestrians in Toronto posted a “cryptic” Facebook message minutes before the attack.
Toronto Police Services Det. Sgt. Graham Gibson says he is prohibited from discussing a possible motive because suspect Alek Minassian has been charged in the case.
Minassian on his now-deleted Facebook account saluted a community college student who killed six people and wounded 13 in shooting and stabbing attacks near the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2014.
He called the Carlifornia killer Elliot Rodger “the Supreme Gentleman,” The Facebook post declared: “The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys!”
The 22-year-old Rodger had used the term “incel” — for involuntarily celibate — in online posts raging at women for rejecting him romantically. Like-minded people in internet forums sometimes use “Chad” and “Stacy” as dismissive slang for men and women with more robust sex lives.
Monday’s Facebook post mentions that “Private (Recruit) Minassian” is speaking, and Facebook confirmed that the post was on an account that belonged to the suspect.
The social networking site took down his account after the attack.
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