Residents of the city of Toronto have banded together in solidarity in the immediate aftermath of a van striking and killing pedestrians along Yonge Street on Monday afternoon.
Toronto police said the incident happened around 1 p.m. on Monday in the area of Yonge Street and Finch Avenue.
Police said a white van mounted a curb and drove down the sidewalk southbound on Yonge toward Finch and struck multiple pedestrians. Police have confirmed 10 people have died and 15 more are injured. One man is in custody.
The hashtags #TorontoStrong and #CanadaStrong immediately began appearing all over social media, with people sending messages of love, hope and resilience in the wake of the tragic incident.
“We will not allow evil of any stripe to terrorize us. We stand united against these types of senseless acts of violence,” one tweet read.
“My condolences and good wishes to my #Toronto brothers and sisters. Continue to live your best lives, all the time, with courage and grace…” another one read.
Another twitter user @djd_house described a scene he witnessed of a paramedic kneeling over a body of a victim and saying a prayer.
The Toronto Maple Leafs held a moment of silence ahead of their playoff contest with the Boston Bruins on Monday to honour the victims of the van attack.
Prior to the moment of silence, the Leafs announcer asked patrons to remove their hats before saying:
“Earlier today our city was impacted by a horrific incident that claimed the lives of nine people and injured many others. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, the first responders and to all of those affected. All of Toronto is with you.”
WATCH: Maple Leafs hold moment of silence to honour victims of the tragic van attack
Facebook has also enabled its crisis response alert for this incident. Users can check themselves in as “safe” in order to let loved ones know they are okay.
On top of marking themselves as safe, a number of people have offered to help or volunteer where needed.
WATCH: Leafs, Bruins offers thoughts and prayers in Toronto van attack
The Toronto sign has been dimmed and the flags at city hall, all civic centres and Metro Hall are at half-mast.
A video posted on Twitter appears to show a standoff between the male suspect and police just before he was arrested.
The suspect appears to come out of the white van with an object in his hands pointed towards a police officer in the street. In the video, the officer could be heard shouting “get down on the ground now.” The officer walked toward the man, who dropped the object and turned around with his hands in the air. It is unclear what the object was that the suspect was holding. He was subsequently taken into custody.
WATCH: ‘Get down or you’ll be shot’: Dramatic police standoff with suspected driver of van
The suspect has not yet been identified.
—With files from Kevin Nielsen