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Lone-Wolf Terrorism

"It may be difficult for this to resonate with Canadians as a terrorist attack, just because of the low complexity and low impact of the attack."
"We may have a hard time getting traction on this as a terrorist incident, but this is very much the nature of terrorism these days in Canada and in many other countries."
"Most of the time, terrorists or wannabe terrorists want to do something high-impact, high profile. The reality is building an improvised explosive device is actually quite expensive, getting access to firearms can alert authorities to your plans."
"A lot of the time, individuals planning terrorist attacks start off with spectacular attacks in mind and, when reality sinks in, they slowly work their way down to what they are actually capable of doing."
Jessica Davis, former senior strategic analyst, Canadian Security Intelligence Service

Toronto Police investigate after a woman was fatally attacked with a hammer in Scarborough on Feb. 21, 2020. Chris Doucette/Postmedia

"The globalization of terrorism, fuelled by elaborate online propaganda by extremist groups, has expanded the breadth of radicalization and mobilization to violence."
"Recent terrorism activities in the West have been typically characterized by low-resource, high-impact acts, and usually inspired by terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda or extremists responding to Islamic State's call for a 'virtual caliphate'."
Canadian Security Intelligence Service report

"Based on the initial evidence, it seems to be a kind of copycat attack. The attacks in London in November 2019 and February 2020 were quite similar and both individuals had on fake suicide vests as well."
"How much of this can be used to ascertain motive remains to be seen, but if it does end up being inspired by the Islamic State, it would be a remarkable testament to how this group continues to inspire attacks even after the fact that most of their fighters are dead or in prison, all physical territory has been clawed back and their propaganda arm has taken a major hit."
Amarnath Amarasingam, assistant professor, School of Religion, Queen's University

Hang-Kam Annie Chiu, 64, of Scarborough, was walking east on Sheppard when she was struck by her killer.

The discussion revolves around the killing of a 64-year-old woman on Friday evening last, by a lone stranger with a hammer. A bizarre, random murder. Except that police discovered a note tucked under the murdered woman's body, a note that inspired them to contact a special policing body when the Toronto police contacted INSET, the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team to become involved in the investigation.

Tasked to probe criminal activities of terrorists posing a threat to national security, INSET's involvement pointed policing authorities to charging a man who had turned up at a Toronto police station, threatening that he was wearing an explosive vest and claiming that he had murdered Hang-Kam Annie Chiu as she walked along a Toronto thoroughfare at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Her murderer, identified as 30-year-old Saad Akhtar.

Saad Akhtar   Global News

Initially charged with first-degree murder, the investigation led to an upgraded charge after Toronto homicide detectives discovered new evidence leading them to believe terrorism was involved. The charge against Akhtar was changed to first-degree murder - including terrorist activity. Under Canada's Criminal Code, should death be caused by an "act or omission (that) also constitutes a terrorist acitvity" it is first-degree murder irrespective of proof of planning and deliberation.

An automatic 25-year period before eligibility for parole comes parcelled with first-degree murder convictions. The charge is viewed as unprecedented in Canada and has obvious connections to jihadi calls for the use of weapons readily at hand rather than group action and explosive devices. Both Islamic State and al-Qaeda have incited followers to the use of vehicles and knives as methods of attack in the West. Evidently for Saad Akhtar a hammer was his weapon of choice.

"This appears to be an isolated incident and there is no further known threat to the public" was the advisory that followed, issued by Toronto police and the RCMP. That is, until the next inspired jihadist comes ambling along. The attacker's mother spoke to news sources of her disbelief that her son could have been the author of an attack with a hammer on a defenceless woman. He had gone out for his usual Friday night mosque appearance and had failed to return home until later than usual.