OTTAWA (Reuters) -A 22-year-old Canadian man was found guilty on Thursday of murdering four members of a Muslim family who he ran over with his truck in 2021, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said.
The jury took around six hours to return its verdict on Nathaniel Veltman, who attacked the family in the Ontario town of London. He faces a life imprisonment sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Prosecutors argued the attack was an act of terrorism, saying Veltman’s own writings showed he was a white nationalist who opposed mass immigration.
Five members of the Afzaal family were out for an evening walk near their home in June 2021 when Veltman ran over them with his truck on the sidewalk.
Salman Afzaal, his wife, their daughter, and Afzaal’s mother were killed, while the couple’s nine-year-old boy suffered serious injuries. Veltman was also found guilty of one charge of attempted murder.
It was the worst attack against Canadian Muslims since a man gunned down six members of a Quebec City mosque in 2017.
Veltman had pleaded not guilty to the charges of murder. His lawyer, citing what he called Veltman’s mental challenges, said the actions amounted to a lesser charge of manslaughter.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil and David LjunggrenEditing by Chris Reese and Mark Potter)
