Police have arrested and charged a 57-year-old man for first-degree murder after a victim was deliberately pushed onto the Bloor-Yonge station tracks on Monday June 18.
Yesterday morning TTC service halted from approximately 10:15 a.m. and remained closed until 4:30 p.m. A police report said that the victim appeared to be waiting for the eastbound train before being intentionally shoved onto the tracks by the suspect. The currently unnamed victim was brought to hospital but later pronounced dead.
“What we believe happened is our victim exits the platform area of the subway station, is proceeding to walk forward to the train, there’s some sort of interaction, and our victim ends up being hit by the train,” Detective Rob North said.
The suspect was arrested approximately 20 minutes after the incident. The suspect was seen walking away from the scene before shortly re-approaching.
Upon viewing the surveillance, North added that “video in the subway system is very clear video. Obviously, we’ve seen something on there that causes us some concern.”
North has now called on any witnesses to come forward. On Monday evening North said, “What I would like to request is that if anybody out there in the community knows somebody who might fit that description or who has a loved one who has not come home this evening or is unable to contact that loved one, please contact me.”
At the time, the platform is believed to have been relatively empty, though there are several witnesses present on surveillance that are being encouraged to come forward to help with the investigation.
The victim was initially believed to be in his 20s, but police have since provided an update stating that he was an Asian man between his 50s to 60s with white hair. He was wearing a white baseball cap, shorts, and blue sneakers.
The TTC released a statement as well specifying that the investigation was ongoing and that cases such as these “are incredibly rare. But the TTC will learn from this tragedy and will review any measures that could further reduce the chances of it happening again.”
