After the Final Verdict: Financing and facilitating the London truck attack
Attack Profile
On June 6, 2021, four members of a family were killed when Nathaniel Veltman drove his pickup truck onto a pedestrian crosswalk in London, Ontario. Police investigations found that the attack was motivated by anti-Muslim hatred. The perpetrator was initially charged with four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, but the charges were later upgraded to include terrorism. Veltman was ultimately given five life sentences with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. This profile updates our previous analysis (released before the legal proceedings were completed) and outlines how the attack was planned and perpetrated, as well as how much it approximately cost to conduct.
Perpetrator and Attack Details
Veltman moved to London, Ontario about six months prior to the attack to attend Fanshawe College. He was employed part-time at the Gray Ridge Egg Farms and rented an apartment in downtown London. Veltman did not have any known ties to hate groups or a criminal record. His family, however, was aware of Veltman’s history of considering attacks against abortion providers.
In March of 2021, he began planning an attack against Muslims. In the months leading up to the attack, Veltman wrote a manifesto entitled “A White Awakening” that borrowed language written by the perpetrator of the Christchurch mass shooting.
A few months later at around 8:40 pm on June 6th, 2021 Nathaniel Veltman drove his pickup truck into five members of a Muslim Pakistani-Canadian family at an intersection while they were waiting to cross. After striking the family, Veltman drove off and approached a cab parked at a mall about 7 kilometres away from the site. He told the driver he had just killed someone and asked him to call the police. Veltman was arrested upon their arrival.