A Canadian jury has found Nathaniel Veltman guilty of the murders of four Pakistani family members.
According to international media, The 22-year-old accused allegedly crashed a car into Salman Afzal’s family in June 2021.
The accused left their nine-year-old son critically injured and killed Salman Afzal, 46, his 44-year-old wife Madiha Salman, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna, and their 74-year-old mother Talat Afzal.
The accused was charged with murder, attempted murder, terrorism, and hate crimes following the incident, and he was arrested immediately after the accident.
Also read
Canada’s Trudeau calls killing of Muslim family ‘terrorist attack’
Killing of Canadian Muslim family with truck was hate crime, police say
Killing of four Pakistani Canadian citizens a demonstration of hate crimes: Qureshi
The incident shocked and saddened Canadians as well as Pakistanis, calling to fight Islamophobia.
The Afzaals were well-liked members of the neighborhood when they moved to London from Pakistan in 2007. Salman worked as an elder care physiotherapist. Madiha was a PhD candidate who worked as a writer and civil engineer.
The London Islamic School bears a floor-to-ceiling space-themed mural painted by Yumna, who was a painter, that read, “Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” Known as the “pillar” of the family, Talat taught art and was also a beloved teacher.