Eight teenage girls have been charged with murder on suspicion of fatally assaulting a homeless 59-year-old man in Toronto, eastern Canada, city police said Tuesday (December 20). The 50-year-old was attacked and stabbed to death by a group of young girls between the ages of 13 and 16 on Saturday night, Sergeant Terry Browne said.
Aside from the fact that they met on social media, little information about the suspects has been released. “We don’t know how or why they met in downtown Toronto that night,” Terry Browne said. “I wouldn’t call them a gang at this point,” he said, adding that five of them were unknown to police. The young girls were arrested near the scene shortly after the attack and several weapons were confiscated. Police believe the suspects were involved in another violent altercation prior to the murder.
After a “difficult” time, the man lived in a homeless shelter in the Canadian metropolis and was supported by his family, the investigator said. In Canada, girls are generally responsible for a minority of crimes, with boys twice as likely to engage in violence, according to government statistics.