Photos are starting to emerge of victims in the Toronto attack that claimed 10 lives and injured another 15 people. The first victim to be identified was named as Anne Marie D’Amico, who was an employee at Invesco investment management firm, a company that is located along the street where the attack occurred.
Dorothy Sewell, 80, was also identified as a victim.
This post will be updated to contain photos of each of the victims as they are named. You can learn more about D’Amico below and see several photos of her. Here’s another photo of D’Amico:
The van, which authorities say was being driven by a Canadian man named Alex Minassian, rammed into pedestrians during afternoon hours along the busy street on April 24, 2018.
Witnesses outlined a horrific scene in which the van leaped over a curb and mowed down people while traveling at a fast pace, leaving victims’ bodies strewn along the pavement. Witness Christian Ali told CNN “he first saw a man unconscious at the side of the road and figured it was a terrible accident after also noticing debris from a car.”
Thus far, however, authorities in Canada do not suspect that the Toronto attack suspect, Alek Minassian, is tied to ISIS or an organized terror group, although the investigation is pending. A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money for the victims’ funeral expenses. Islamic Relief Canada has also established a fundraiser to help the victims’ families.
Among those not fatally injured were three Koreans, one with serious injuries.
Here are photos of the victims identified so far:
Anne Marie D’Amico
Anne Marie D’Amico, the first victim named, worked along the street where the attack occurred, and she was remembered as being full of life.
On her Facebook page, she also wrote that she worked at Live Different, worked at the Badminton and Racquet Club of Toronto, and studied at Ryerson University. Her last publicly available post on Facebook was from 2013. It read, “And God said let their be light on the Superbowl game…” She also wrote about going to Jamaica: “I’m leaving, on a jet plane again. Jamaica! We got a bobsled team! Rum, here I come.”
In 2010, she wrote about appearing in a talent competition: “Here I am at the Ram, on a Wednesday night about to perform the talent portion of the Mr./Ms. Ryerson Competition. Talent: Singing the ABCs backwards, while breaking boards. Apparently it was a lethal combination. What you don’t see in the video was my first board breaking (P for punch) where the board flew out of Arzan’s hand and into the audience. I’m still not sure if anyone was hurt during this filming. Pay attention to the audience’s applause before and after my talent.”
Here is an older photo of D’Amico:
A post on a remembrance page for D’Amico reads, “The D’Amico Family thanks everyone for the words, love and support during this time. Anne Marie was a victim in the van attack in Toronto, yesterday afternoon.”
Dorothy Sewell
Dorothy Sewell, 80, was named as a victim by her grandson, Elwood Delaney, who told CBC, “She was the foundation for all things sports here in our family, that’s for sure.”
The Canadian-born Sewell, who once worked at Sears, her grandson told CBC, which quoted him as saying, “She loved her Maple Leafs, she loved her Blue Jays. I don’t think she ever missed a Blue Jays game.”
Chul Kang
Kang was a chef at Copacabana restaurant, where he had worked for six years, according to The Toronto Star. Michael Rudan, the owner of the restaurant, told the Star that Kang, who was of Korean descent, was “hardworking, loyal and salt of the earth.”
Munir Abdu Habib Al-Najjar
A Jordanian citizen was also listed among the victims, and he was identified as Munir Abdu Habib Al-Najjar. The Jordanian Foreign Ministry “said that the citizen died of a serious accident in Toronto, Canada….The Jordanian embassy in Ottawa is also following up with the Canadian authorities regarding the investigations and measures to be taken in connection with the incident,” Ammon News reported.
Al-Najjar was visiting his son. Kandoush Aleid called the victim “a lovely, kind person and full of life,” adding that he “liked to make jokes and laugh.”
This post will be updated with information about other victims as they are named.