(OTTAWA) Eight teenage girls have been charged with murder on suspicion of fatally assaulting a homeless 59-year-old man in Toronto, city police said Tuesday.
The 50-year-old was attacked and stabbed by a group of young girls aged 13 to 16, on the night of Saturday to Sunday, said Sergeant Terry Browne.
Little information has been released on the suspects apart from the fact that they would have met on social networks.
“We don’t know how or why they met that night in downtown Toronto,” Browne said.
“I wouldn’t describe them as a gang at this point,” he said, adding that five of them were not known to the police.
The young girls were arrested shortly after the attack, near the scene, and several weapons were seized.
Police believe the defendants were involved in another violent altercation before the murder.
The man had recently been living in a homeless shelter in the Canadian megalopolis after a “difficult” period, while being supported by his family, said the detective.
In Canada, girls are generally responsible for a minority of crimes, with boys twice as likely to engage in violent behavior, according to government statistics.