The jury at the trial of a man facing terror-related murder charges in the deaths of four members of a Muslim family in Ontario is set to hear from more witnesses today.
Nathaniel Veltman, who has pleaded not guilty, is accused of deliberately hitting five members of the Afzaal family with his truck while they were out for a walk, with prosecutors saying his actions amount to an act of terrorism.
The jury at the trial was shown video on Tuesday of Veltman speeding his truck, seen with a heavily damaged front end, into an almost empty mall parking lot a few minutes after the attack on June 6, 2021, and stopping next to a parked cab.
The video—extracted and edited from security camera footage from the mall—shows three police vehicles arriving about two minutes later, followed by more police vehicles minutes after that.
Veltman is seen leaving his truck and taking a few steps before kneeling down and putting his hands on his head as officers approach and arrest him.
Federal prosecutors are arguing that Veltman was motivated by white nationalist beliefs.
Taxi driver Azzeddin Jahanghiri testified that he saw Veltman pulling over behind his cab before Veltman asked him to call the police.
Jahanghiri said Veltman was wearing a military-style helmet and a bulletproof vest and appeared calm. An agreed statement of facts presented to the jury has said Veltman was driving his truck north on Hyde Park Road in London when he saw the Afzaal family and made a U-turn to drive south towards them.
Two women in the Afzaal family were wearing traditional Pakistani clothes at the time of the attack. The statement said Talat Afzaal was wearing a dark green and mustard-coloured long shirt and Madiha Salman was wearing a bright pink patterned long shirt.
Veltman accelerated as he approached the family and data from his truck shows he steered to the right, aiming to hit the family just five seconds before striking them, the statement said.
“From five seconds before the impact through until point of impact, the brake pedal was never depressed,” it said. “Veltman struck the victims with his truck and at least one family member was thrown high in the air.”
Federal prosecutor Sarah Shaikh told jurors in her opening statement Monday that Veltman allegedly planned his attack for three months.
She said Veltman told detectives that his intentions were political, he‘d left his home on the day of the attack looking for Muslims to kill and that he’d used a truck to send a message to others that vehicles can be used to attack Muslims.
