A white nationalist-inspired Canadian man was found guilty of killing four Muslim family members by running them over with a pickup truck. The attack shocked, grieved, and terrified the nation and prompted calls to address Islamophobia.
Nathaniel Veltman, 22, who had railed against immigration and Islam, was found guilty on Thursday of attacking the family in June 2021 in the Ontario town of London.
During the closing arguments, prosecutor Fraser Ball stated that Veltman had on body armor and a shirt with a crusader emblem, and that “he was hunting for Muslims to kill.”
Killings included 46-year-old Salman Afzaal, 44-year-old Madiha Salman, their 15-year-old daughter Yumnah, and 74-year-old Afzaal’s mother Talat. The nine-year-old son of the couple was critically injured but made it out alive. The Pakistani family had been taking a stroll close to their residence.
Veltman, who was found guilty on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder, faces life in prison without the possibility of release for 25 years. The prosecution referred to the attack as an act of “terrorism.”
The jury was told during the 10-week trial that Veltman wrote a far-right manifesto outlining his dislike of Islam and his resistance to immigration and multiculturalism in large quantities.