Authorities said Tuesday that eight teenage girls in Canada have been charged with the murder of a homeless man after allegedly stabbing him multiple times over what police believe was a bottle of alcohol.
The 59-year-old victim, who began living in Toronto’s shelter system in September, was allegedly “swarmed” by the girls just after midnight Sunday in downtown Toronto, The Associated Press reported. He was then transported to a local hospital where he died of his injuries, the police report states. (RELATED: 15-Year-Old Girl Who Stabbed Mother And Daughter In Tokyo Says She Did It For ‘Practice’)
“I’ve been in policing for almost 35 years and you think you’ve seen it all,” Detective Sgt. Terry Browne of the Toronto Police Service Homicide Squad told The Associated Press. “Anyone who isn’t shocked with hearing something like this has clearly just thrown in the towel and just said that anything is possible in this world. Eight young girls and most under the age of 16. If this isn’t alarming and shocking to everyone, then we’re all in trouble quite frankly.”
Eight teen girls charged with killing homeless man in Toronto: police https://t.co/O7MkHZWf0a pic.twitter.com/FI2TesWmZ9
— New York Post (@nypost) December 21, 2022
As a result of “quick work” by police officers, the girls were apprehended along with a “number of weapons,” Browne told reporters in a press conference.
Police believe the girls met each other through social media and hinted that the attack may have been motivated by it.
“Maybe these were eight young women that wanted to make a name for themselves and see if they could become socially famous,” Browne told the AP. That said, Browne refused to say whether or not the girls had videotaped the attack, but told the outlet police would be looking to find similar attacks online.
“Has this happened recently that we are not aware of? Have people been posting this stuff online that we weren’t aware of?” he asked. “It’s something that we are going to try to find out.”
While Browne does not consider the girls to be a “gang” per se, he does believe that they worked in concert to assault the victim. “They are all equally culpable,” he told the AP. “There is no doubt in our minds that they were all working as a singular entity in a swarming mob mentality when they chose to attack this man.”
The girls, ranging from 13 years old to 16 years old, have been charged with second-degree murder and remain in custody as they await their next court appearance on Dec. 29, the AP reported.