A 57-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder after a commuter was pushed in front of a Toronto subway train Monday morning, Toronto police said.
The victim was described as an Asian man in his 50s or 60s, several decades older than the initial police report. He was not carrying identification and police were trying late Monday to determine who he was.
According to police, there was an interaction between the men before the victim was pushed to his death from the lower platform of Bloor-Yonge station in downtown Toronto. The death happened after the morning rush hour and no evidence has been revealed to show that crowding played a role.
The suspect is due to appear in court Tuesday morning.
Detective Rob North said the train struck the man just after 10:15 a.m. at Bloor-Yonge subway station. He was later pronounced dead at hospital.
“The victim was [on the platform], was about to get on a train and whether they were pushed or stumbled is something we’re looking into,” Det. North said.
The homicide squad took over the case after investigators pored over CCTV footage. “We’ve seen something on there that causes us some concern, that causes us to interject ourselves into a divisional investigation,” Det. North said.
The detective added that CCTV footage showed no previous altercation between the two men.
Police want anyone who was at Bloor-Yonge station around 10 a.m. to contact them.
The platform was busy but not crowded at that hour, TTC spokesman Brad Ross said. The station was expected to remain closed for the afternoon commute.
The incident happened around the midway point of the eastbound platform of Bloor-Yonge station, the lower level of the busy interchange where the city’s main two subway lines come together. At this spot, the platform is to the right of the train and it is unclear how much the operator, whose cab is on the left, saw of the incident. The employee will receive the counselling and support they need, Mr. Ross said, the same as if it was a suicide incident.
Suicides and suicide attempts are a frequent occurrence on Toronto’s subway system, which carries about one million passengers on the average weekday, but homicides involving these trains are exceedingly rare. There were only two such fatal incidents in the past two decades, according to Mr. Ross.
In 1997, a man who was mentally ill pushed a 23-year-old law clerk in front of a train. The killer, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, spent about 15 minutes at the station before choosing his victim at random.
Three years later, a 37-year-old psychotherapist jumped in front of a train holding her baby. The six-month-old child was killed instantly and the police contemplated murder charges, but the mother died eight days later without regaining consciousness.
There have been other, non-fatal, incidents. Among the high-profile ones was in 2009, when a man pushed two teenage boys in front of a train. The youths were able to get under the edge of the station platform and survived, although one lost part of his foot. The perpetrator was found not criminally responsible.
Oliver Moore
Patrick White