Sri Lankan among victims in Toronto terror attack

Jordana Narin-Wednesday, April 25, 2018

A Sri Lankan woman is among the ten victims killed in Monday's deadly van attack in Toronto. 

Renuka Amarasinghe, 48 years old from Horana, had been living in Toronto for over a decade as a single mother to her seven-year-old son when a white van plowed into pedestrians on Toronto’s Yonge Street, a main commercial thoroughfare. Among Amarasinghe and nine others who were killed, 14 people remain in the hospital with injuries, some critical. 

Amarasinghe had been regularly involved with the Toronto Mahavihara Buddhist Centre for the past 15 years, said its Chief Priest Ven. Ahangama Rathanasiri Thero. The Thero said the bodies of the deceased have yet to be released, as not all have been identified yet, but that Amarasinghe's final rites will be held in Canada where she is a citizen and where her son still resides. He added that the temple will do all it can for Amarasinghe’s child and his future. 

The suspect in the attack, Alek Minassian, was charged on Tuesday with ten counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. Minassian joined Canada’s armed forces last year but was released after just sixteen days on his own request. According to those who know him, Minassian was a “socially awkward” student; but online, he had a propensity to rage in social media posts about women who rejected his romantic advances.