TORONTO, ONT – A suspect has been charged in the stabbing of a professor and two students during a class on gender issues at Canada's University of Waterloo in what police are calling a hate-motivated attack.
Waterloo Regional Police say Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, an international student who had been studying at the University of Waterloo, faces three counts of aggravated assault, four counts of assault with a weapon and two counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
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Waterloo Police Chief Mark Crowell said the suspect, who had been interviewed by police, wanted to make a “statement” about gender identity, and that he had asked the professor to verify that the class was about gender studies before attacking.
A 38-year-old female professor, a 20-year-old female student and 19-year-old male student were sent to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. About 40 students were in the class at the time.
Several students tried to stop the attack, including by throwing chairs at the suspect, while others fled the room. The suspect initially posed as a victim before police identified him and arrested him, Crowell said.
Crowell said that authorities have seen an uptick in hate-motivated incidents toward the LGBTQ+ community.
“This is a troubling trend that we've seen, especially during Pride month,” Crowell said. “I think we all know there is a polarization in society right now.”
In a statement posted on Twitter, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the stabbings “heinous” and “despicable.”
“It is another reminder that we can never let misogynistic, anti-2SLGBTQI+ rhetoric escalate - because these words have real-life consequences,” Trudeau said.
“The hate escalated into violence — forever changing the lives of the professor and two students who were attacked, as well as the lives of all the students who attended their gender studies class.”
The suspect, who does not have a criminal record, appeared in court for a bail hearing on Thursday.
Nick Manning, associate vice president of communications for the University of Waterloo, said the suspect graduated from the university at the end of the fall term in 2022.
Manning said that the stabbing occurred in Philosophy 202, which, according to the university website, focuses on “gender issues.”
A website description of the course said it "will examine the construction of gender in the history of philosophy through contemporary discussions. What is gender? How do we “do” gender? How can we “undo” gender — and do we want to?”
“Our entire community is really concerned that this would happen here. It’s a big shock,” Manning said.
Yusuf Kaymak, a student at the university, told CTV News that he was in the class at the time and that about 40 students were there.
“The guy basically walked in and asked the teacher if he was the professor, he said ‘yeah,’ then he pulled out a knife and after that, everybody just ran out,” Kaymak said.
Some students questioned why it took hours for them to receive an emergency alert on what had happened.
Mara Crassweller, a graduate student, said it took about three hours for her to receive an emergency alert from the university after the stabbings. Brianna Egan, a 23-year-old accounting student, said her class in the same building as the gender studies lecture let out minutes before Wednesday’s stabbing.
”(It) was a bit terrifying to be honest, especially with how long it took the university to respond,” she said.
James Rush, a university vice president, acknowledged the alert system “did not activate as quickly as we would have normally expected,” despite being tested earlier on Wednesday.
“It was a very unfortunate delay,” Rush said.
Rush vowed to be transparent about what happened.
Students gathered for a moment of silence in the university’s arts quad.
“There are those who would like to intimidate us,” University of Waterloo President Vivek Goel said. "They want us to be afraid. Afraid to share. Afraid to speak our truths. But we will not let them deter us from proclaiming loudly our values of inclusion and openness."