What we know about Alek Minassian, alleged driver in deadly Toronto van attack

Police have identified the suspect in a deadly van attack in Toronto as Alek Minassian, a 25-year-old man from Richmond Hill, Ont., a suburb north of the city. 

Ten people were killed and 15 injured on Monday afternoon after a rented white Ryder van jumped a curb and plowed into pedestrians along a stretch of Toronto's busy Yonge Street.

A profile on social networking site LinkedIn identifies Minassian as a student at Seneca College in North York, the northern Toronto neighbourhood where the attack took place.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters that while the day's events were "horrendous," they do not appear to represent a larger threat to national security.

At a news conference Monday night, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders declined to provide a motive, saying officials were still investigating. But he said the driver's actions "definitely looked deliberate."

Yet one possible explanation has emerged online that suggests Minassian was angry over being rebuffed by women. 

Toronto Van Incident

(Slideshow by Photo Services)

An apparent Facebook post by a man with the same name and photo as Minassian's LinkedIn profile refers to the "Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger," a 22-year-old responsible for a deadly rampage in  Isla Vista, Calif., that left six people dead and a dozen more injured.

In a video posted ahead of that 2014 attack, Rodger raged about a number of women turning down his advances, rendering him an "incel," or involuntarily celibate. Rodger referred to the men who always seemed to win with women as "Chads" and the women who turned men down as "Stacys."

The apparent posting by Minassian says the "incel rebellion has already begun. We will overthrow all the Chads and the Stacys."

CBC News has not been able to independently verify the post as having been written by Minassian.

Cellphone video posted to social media on Monday afternoon shows a man stepping out of a white van, stopped on a sidewalk with its front crumpled, and into the line of fire a police officer who has his weapon drawn. He can be heard yelling "Kill me" and gesturing at the office to shoot him.

© Alek Minassian/LinkedIn Alek Minassian, 25, is the suspect in the Toronto van attack that killed 10 people and injured 15 others.

Saunders also said Monday night that no gun was found on the driver at the time of the arrest and that Minassian was not previously known to Toronto police.