Canadians
Need the Truth About Toronto's Danforth Avenue Terrorist Attack
by Scott Newark
Special to IPT News
August 17, 2018
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Shooting victims Juliana
Kozis and Reese Fallon
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It's been more than three weeks since the murderous shooting attack on
Toronto's Danforth Avenue, which is a famous outdoor dining location that
is also home to the city's Greek community. Canadians were understandably
horrified when they saw video images of 29-year-old Faisal Hussain casually
walking down the street and opening fire on people who were doing nothing
more than enjoying themselves on a Sunday evening. The shooting continued
as Hussain crisscrossed the street firing dozens of shots from a handgun,
which he repeatedly reloaded.
Hussain killed 18-year-old Reese Fallon and 10-year-old girl
Juliana Kozis and wounded 13 other people, including a young woman who may
be paralyzed for life. Toronto Police were quick to arrive on the scene and
unconfirmed reports say that Faisal Hussain shot himself to death after
exchanging gunfire with police.
Unlike other attacks targeting crowded public areas, there was no
immediate indication of why Hussain carried out his July 22 attack.
He made no statements during the attacks and apparently police have found
no evidence that suggests a motive. This uncertainty has created understandable
public concern.
Toronto Police identified Hussain as the shooter shortly after the
attack and said they were in the process of executing search warrants to
examine his electronic devices for any insights into his motivation.
On the day after the mass shootings, Hussain's Pakistani-born and
Toronto resident parents issued a professionally crafted media statement
claiming that their son's actions were due to a long history of
"severe mental health challenges" which Canadian medical practitioners
were unsuccessful treating. Media reports subsequently revealed that the
Hussain's family spokesperson was a self-described supporter of the
National Council of Canadian Muslims.
The cone of silence which descended on this case since then is largely
because the shooter had violent interactions with the police. Ontario law
grants the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) control of all public
communications regarding the incident as they decide if the police acted
appropriately. While independent police oversight is important, it seems
clear that the police acted appropriately by trying to stop the killer,
whose suicide was in no way a consequence of police misconduct. SIU
oversight should not needlessly obstruct the public's right to know the
truth, especially in cases like this one.
Journalists have filled some of the void with details about Hussain,
including his past apprehension under the Mental Health Act, his threats of
violence as a student and his older brother's association with a street
gang that was active in both the drug and illegal gun trade. Initial
speculation suggested that he targeted women like the April van attack in Toronto by Alek Minassian that killed 10
people.
Not surprisingly, speculation also emerged that Hussain's motivation was
Islamist terrorism, which was reinforced by the nature of the attack that
has unfortunately become a recurring reality with violent attacks in
France, the UK, the EU, Canada and the US. The Islamist motivation
speculation was significantly strengthened days after the attack when ISIS released a statement saying Hussain "was a
soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the attack in response to
calls to target the citizens of the coalition countries."
Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said that police had uncovered no such links but that the motive was still
under investigation. He did not provide any information about what had been
found on Hussain's digital devices – and that remains the case today.
News reports indicate that a fully armed Hussain sat outside the grocery
store where he worked for six hours before walking to Danforth Avenue. It
is not known why he chose Danforth Avenue.
It's been more than three weeks and Canadians still don't have an
official explanation of exactly what happened and what motivated the
attack. Consider what we do know about a possible Islamist motivation:
1. The murderous random attack in a highly populated venue
carried out by Faisal Hussain is a technique previously used by Islamists.
2. ISIS has engaged in an online campaign to encourage
domestic attacks such as Hussain carried out.
3. Hussain was a practicing Muslim and attended a mosque that
reportedly preaches extremist interpretations of Islam.
4. ISIS has claimed Hussain was one of its
"soldiers."
5. Violent Islamist ideology has an undeniable history of
motivating people with mental health issues to carry out terrorist attacks
against citizens in Western countries.
Unconfirmed media reports also say that Hussain had been questioned by
police and the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) about his
Islamist connections and had traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan. The
silence from police officials on this specific issue has been deafening.
Murderous attacks such as what Faisal Hussain carried out on Danforth
Avenue clearly affect public confidence in the safety and security of the
societies in which we live. Indeed, eroding and undermining that public
confidence is a goal of the terrorist groups that engage in or seek to
inspire such attacks.
Western societies have successfully deployed multiple strategies to
prevent and respond to terrorism. Supporting public confidence in our
public systems, including law enforcement, needs to be a component of that
strategy and that includes not succumbing to political correctness or
bureaucratic self-interest. The Toronto Police need to tell the public what
it knows about Hussain's murderous motivation. And if they can't make a
determination, they should say so. People can judge for themselves the
credibility of what they are told but, above all else, Canadians deserve to
know the truth.
Scott Newark is a former Alberta Crown Prosecutor who has also served
as Executive Officer of the Canadian Police Association, Vice Chair of the
Ontario Office for Victims of Crime, Director of Operations to the
Washington D.C.-based Investigative Project on Terrorism and as a Security
Policy Advisor to the Governments of Ontario and Canada. He is currently an
Adjunct Professor in the TRSS Program in the School of Criminology at Simon
Fraser University.
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