Ken Lee, 59, recognized as sufferer of alleged ‘swarming’ assault by teen ladies in Toronto

Police have recognized a person killed in an alleged “swarming” assault by eight teenage ladies in Toronto final month as Ken Lee.

Lee, 59, was pronounced useless in hospital after he was allegedly overwhelmed and stabbed by the group of ladies outdoors a downtown shelter within the early morning hours of Dec. 18, 2022. 

Investigators mentioned on the time they had been working to inform Lee’s subsequent of kin of his dying. Lee was from Toronto, police mentioned in a information launch Tuesday.

All eight ladies, who vary in age from 13 to 16 years previous, had been charged with second-degree homicide. One was granted bail in late December, whereas the remainder have bail hearings scheduled for later this month.

Their identities are protected below the Youth Prison Justice Act.

At a Tuesday ceremony on the Toronto Homeless Memorial outdoors the Church of the Holy Trinity within the metropolis’s downtown core, Diana Chan McNally, hurt discount case supervisor at All Saints Toronto, mentioned Lee’s dying is meaningless. 

“Listening to one thing like that and the individuals who had been concerned, it is simply one thing that is fully past my understanding,” she mentioned.

She mentioned anecdotally, she is seeing a rise of violence towards people who find themselves actively dwelling on the road.

“That is probably the most excessive instance of that, however we see it on a regular basis. I get folks coming in with all types of accidents from being beat up by full strangers,” she mentioned. “This is not one thing that is new, it is ongoing, however I see it increasingly.

“I believe there’s simply a lot hatred and dehumanization of people who find themselves unhoused.”

Doug Johnson Hatlem, a avenue pastor and spokesperson for Sanctuary Toronto, which works with the homeless, mentioned he realized that Lee had immigrated from Hong Kong and was working to get housing.

Those that knew Lee mentioned he was a quiet man who had been defending a buddy when the group of teenagers allegedly attacked, he mentioned.

“No one was stunned that he would stick up for someone like that,” Johnson Hatlem mentioned.

Gru, a former homeless particular person who organized Tuesday’s memorial, mentioned he and others dwelling on the streets had one thought come to their thoughts after listening to about Lee’s dying.

“That might be me,” he mentioned.

“Most unhoused folks will let you know private tales of being chased by individuals who wish to beat them up … Everyone knows somebody who died, everyone knows somebody who was attacked.”

Police imagine liquor bottle theft concerned

A buddy of Lee’s who noticed his alleged assault beforehand instructed CBC Toronto the ladies had tried to take a liquor bottle from her and Lee had tried to cease them. The lead detective on the case later confirmed that police imagine there was an tried theft — “seemingly of a liquor bottle” — throughout the preliminary section of the lethal encounter.

The assault occurred at about 12:15 a.m. native time, close to the nook of York Road and College Avenue, simply steps from Union Station. 

Det.-Sgt. Terry Browne mentioned in December that police selected to cost all the teenagers with second-degree homicide as a result of every lady “performed a task” within the slaying.

“All eight had been collectively. All eight had been concerned,” he mentioned. “I will not say what each individually did, however all eight had been collectively and collaborating on this occasion, which is disturbing.”

He described the assault as a “swarming,” which usually entails choosing a goal to victimize.