Update:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...ed-in-other-violent-incidents-that-night.html
Teens who allegedly stabbed homeless man may have been involved in other violent incidents that night
The eight teenage girls charged with the
“swarming” and fatal stabbing of a man in downtown Toronto last weekend are under investigation for other unrelated violent incidents that occurred that night, the Star has learned.
Eight females aged 13 to 16 remain in custody after being arrested and charged with second-degree murder following Saturday night’s attack that ended the life of a 59-year-old man. Their identities are protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Police have not released the identity of the victim.
The shocking alleged involvement of eight teenage girls in a murder is unprecedented in Toronto, a city that also recently saw two female teens charged in connection to an armed carjacking. The alleged “swarming” that took place hearkens back to a term popularized in the late ’80s after a rash of incidents in Toronto and elsewhere that typically involved young adolescent males.
“I can’t recall a situation where eight females have been involved in something like this,” homicide Det.-Sgt. Terry Browne told a news conference Tuesday. He told reporters the girls met through social media and arranged to meet downtown Saturday night.
The teens are a mix of urban and suburban residents who come from neighbourhoods stretching from Scarborough to Etobicoke and downtown Toronto, Browne said. One of the teens lives in the 905 region west of the city. Three had prior contact with police.
Investigators have not publicly confirmed on which social media platform the girls met.
At the news conference, Browne said the attack occurred near Union Station around midnight and that the girls may have been involved in an earlier altercation in the area of York Street, University Avenue and Front Street.
Police believe the girls were trying to steal a bottle of alcohol from the victim’s girlfriend when the violence erupted, and that there were at least two possible other swarming incidents involving the girls that evening, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation but not authorized to speak publicly said Wednesday.
The first incident occurred at St. Andrews TTC station, according to the source, where police believe the girls met before they headed east toward Union. After Browne’s news conference, police received calls from members of the public reporting that the girls might also have swarmed bystanders at Union Station, the source said.
If additional charges are to be laid against the group for other incidents it will be done by divisional detectives, Browne wrote in an email to the Star.
The city declined to confirm reports of altercations at either transit hub on Saturday evening or early Sunday morning, while a TTC spokesperson referred inquiries into potential incidents at both Union and St. Andrews stations to the police.
The girls have appeared in court but have not been convicted of any offences related to last weekend. They are supposed to appear in court again Dec. 29.
Tracy Vaillancourt, a University of Ottawa professor and Canada Research Chair in children’s mental health and violence prevention, said it’s “atypical” to see adolescent girls engage in aggression that could lead to a murder charge.
She said the case highlights how groups can have a “deindividuation effect,” where people’s individual actions and responsibilities are trumped and obfuscated by a group’s actions, which can lead to impulsivity and violence.
“What that means is the way you behave in a group that’s gone awry, like here, is not the way you would typically behave if you were alone,” said Vaillancourt. “In a sense, it blunts you, desensitizes you to the distress and the plight of the person that you’re causing harm to.”
The victim in this case may also have been easier to allegedly target because he belonged to a vulnerable group, Vaillancourt said.
The Toronto Youth Cabinet, the city’s official youth advisory body, said it was “disheartened” to hear about the attack.
“We must also recognize that violence against homeless and precariously housed individuals are on the rise and those who are the most vulnerable in our communities will be recipients of these violent acts,” a statement from cabinet executive director Stephen Mensah read.
“As a society we must not be comfortable and complacent with the rise in violence nor must we be for the deteriorating socioeconomic conditions our young people find themselves in.”