Ken Lee. File Photo. Source: twitter
Torronto: The homeless man who was fatally stabbed and battered last month in a gruesome attack reportedly carried out by a group of eight teenage girls has been identified by Canadian police.
The victim, identified as 59-year-old Ken Lee, was slain while attempting to stop the teenagers from stealing a bottle of alcohol from a friend, police said.
On December 18, just after midnight, a fatal attack took place at a plaza close to Toronto’s main train station and a homeless shelter.
Police said that Lee, a recent arrival from Hong Kong who had been living in Toronto’s shelter system, was “swarmed” by the group of girls before they stabbed him.
The Toronto Sun was informed by an unnamed police source that the girls assaulted Lee “like a pack of wild beasts.”
The source continued, “He tried to fight them off, but they just kept coming back.
Lee was brought to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries after bystanders called for help.
Second-degree murder charges are being brought against three 13-year-olds, three 14-year-olds, and two 16-year-olds in connection with the death of Lee.
Each female “had a role” in the swarming homicide, according to Detective Sgt. Terry Browne, who termed it as “shocking” and “disturbing” last month.
The Toronto officer remarked at the time, “I’ve been in policing for over 35 years, and you think you’ve seen it all.” Anyone who doesn’t react in shock after hearing anything like this has obviously given up and declared that everything is possible in this world.
A GoFundMe account has been started on behalf of the family by Helen Shum, who claims to be a relative of Lee. She writes in the campaign’s description that Lee’s passing “totally shattered his elderly mother’s heart.”
The victim, who would have been 60 last week, was referred to by Shum as “a cherished son, brother, and uncle.”Shum claimed that Lee left home “motivated to get his life back on track” after experiencing some “poor luck” in the previous fall.
The relative continued, “We made sure he knew we were always here for him and were waiting for him to come home. We recognised and respected his desire for an autonomous solution to his problems.
According to police, the teenagers who are accused of attacking Lee came from homes all across the greater Toronto region and met up near Union Station after becoming friends online. Three of them, they claimed, had past run-ins with the law, compared to five others.
Due to their age, Canadian authorities are legally prohibited from identifying them. While the rest are awaiting hearings, one was given bail last month and permitted to return to school.
According to investigators, Lee may have intervened to prevent the females from stealing a bottle of alcohol from his female acquaintance.
Nobody was shocked that he would defend someone like that, said Doug Johnson Hatlem, a street minister who works with the homeless.
The same girls allegedly got into another fight around two hours before they allegedly killed Lee, according to the police.
What they are supposed to have done that night would be in line with what Browne described as a “swarming” or “swarming like activity.”
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