8 teenage girls assault, stab elderly man to death in Canada

In a shocking incident, eight teenage girls were charged with murder on Tuesday in the stabbing death of a 59-year-old Toronto man in what police are calling a “swarming” attack.

The elderly man was found stabbed on Sunday shortly after 12 am, after a report of an assault in the York Street area and University Avenue. The victim was taken to a hospital where he later passed away, police said. Authorities didn’t release the victim’s details awaiting family notification.

The eight girls were found soon after the attack and was taken into police custody and charged with second-degree murder, Detective Sgt. Terry Browne of the Toronto Police Service Homicide Unit said during a press conference.

Three of the girls are aged 13, three of them are aged 14, and two of them are aged 16, as maintained by a press release from the Toronto Police Department.

The group of teenagers “met each other through social media. They come from different parts of the city,” Detective Sgt. Terry Browne said on Tuesday.

“We don’t know how or why they met on that evening and why that destination was downtown Toronto,” Browne said, adding police believe the group may have been involved in an “altercation” earlier in the evening before the stabbing.

Detective Sgt. Terry Browne said he would not call the group of girls a “gang” but noted they participated in a behavior known as “swarming,” in which multiple attackers target a victim simultaneously. A number of weapons were also recovered from the attackers, Browne further added.

Three of the girls have had “prior contact” with police, Detective Sgt. Terry Browne said.

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