Canada arrests 8 teen girls for allegedly murdering homeless man

Three of the eight girls have had prior run-ins with Canadian law enforcement.

Published: December 21, 2022 3:31pm

Updated: December 21, 2022 4:07pm

Canadian authorities have arrested eight teenage girls for allegedly stabbing a homeless man to death in Toronto.

Among those arrested are three girls aged 13, three aged 14, and two aged 16, per Fox News. All face second-degree murder charges in connection with the Sunday morning death of a 59-year-old man living in the homeless shelter system.

The girls' motives remain unclear and as of yet they have no known connections to the victim, who had been residing in the shelter system for only a few months. Police said he had "a very supportive family in the area" and described him as having had "hard luck" rather than being homeless.

Det. Sgt. Terry Browne of the Homicide and Missing Persons Unit addressed the alleged attack on Tuesday, saying what "[allegedly] occurred that evening would be consistent with what we would traditionally call a swarming or a swarming-type behavior."

Of the girls, Browne asserted that authorities still had little information.

"From what we gathered so far, is that they met each other through social media," he said. "They come from varying parts of the city. That's to say they're not from one specific geographic location. We don't know how or why they met on that evening or why the destination was downtown Toronto."

"We don't know how long they've been acquainted together with each other. But I wouldn't describe them as a gang at the point," he continued.

Three of the eight girls have had prior run-ins with Canadian law enforcement, per Fox.

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