Immigrant family's slaying shakes Canada

A targeted attack in which four members of a Muslim family were killed when a man driving a pickup truck plowed into them has caused fear in Canada, a country where immigrants are largely accepted.

The killings drew denunciations on Tuesday from Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who called it a hate crime directed at Muslims.

The victims－a couple, their two children and a grandmother－were on an evening walk when the driver of the truck struck them at an intersection in London, Ontario province, on Sunday. The sole survivor was a 9-year-old boy, who was admitted to hospital.

"This was a terrorist attack, motivated by hatred, in the heart of one of our communities," Trudeau told Parliament. "If anyone thinks racism and hatred don't exist in this country, I want to say this: How do we explain such violence to a child in a hospital? How can we look families in the eye and say 'Islamophobia isn't real'"?

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Twitter that Sunday's attack reveals the growing Islamophobia in Western countries.

The victims' extended family issued a statement identifying the dead as Salman Afzal, 46, his wife Madiha, 44, and their daughter Yumna, 15, along with a 74-year-old grandmother whose name was withheld. The hospitalized boy was identified as the couple's son, Fayez. Friends said the family emigrated to Canada 14 years ago.

Trudeau said: "This killing was no accident.… Canadians are outraged by what happened on Sunday. And many Muslim Canadians are scared."

Police arrested the suspect, Nathaniel Veltman, 20, in a parking lot at a nearby mall. He was wearing a vest with a form of body armor. Veltman, who is white, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Authorities are reviewing possible terrorism charges.

Everyone who knew the Afzal family regarded them as "the model family they were as Muslims, Canadians and Pakistanis", the statement from the extended family said.

"They worked extremely hard in their fields and excelled. Their children were top students in their school and connected strongly with their spiritual identity."

A fundraising webpage said Salman Afzal was a physiotherapist and cricket enthusiast and Madiha was working on a doctorate in civil engineering at Western University in London. Their daughter was finishing ninth grade, and the grandmother was a "pillar" of the family, the page said.

Thousands of mourners including Trudeau and the leaders of all of Canada's political parties attended a vigil on Tuesday night at the mosque the family attended.

Deep grief

"There are no words that can ease the grief of having three generations murdered in their neighborhood," Trudeau told the crowd.

Mayor Ed Holder said flags would be lowered for three days in London.

Canada is generally welcoming toward immigrants and all religions, but in 2017 a French-Canadian man known for far-right, nationalist views went on a shooting rampage at a Quebec City mosque that killed six people.

The latest statistics show that there were 349 hate incidents against Muslims in Canada reported to police in 2017, a 151 percent increase from the 139 reported in 2016.

According to Statistics Canada, about two-thirds of hate crimes across the country go unreported.

Agencies and Rena Li in Toronto contributed to this story.