Police say a bucket of what was believed to be feces was dumped on a female outside a University of Toronto building late Monday night, the third such incident in the city within a four-day period.
In a tweet sent out early Tuesday morning, police said the latest assault occurred at around midnight in the area of College Street and University Avenue, near a building on the University of Toronto’s downtown campus.
Police said a man dumped a bucket of what appeared to be feces on a female on the sidewalk and then took off eastbound on College Street.
feces, University, College,
Officers are currently investigating two other incidents where “liquefied fecal matter” was reportedly tossed on people inside university libraries.
The first assault allegedly occurred at the University of Toronto’s Robarts Library on Friday.
Police said an unknown man entered the library at around 5:20 p.m. carrying what has been described as “liquefied fecal matter.”
The man, according to police, then walked over to two unsuspecting people seated at a table and poured the contents of the bucket on them.
He then fled the area on foot.
On Tuesday, police released a photo of the suspect believed to be responsible for the two attacks around U of T. He has been described as a black male who is between the ages of 20 and 30 and has a medium build. He was seen wearing a yellow construction hat and a dark blue jacket.
feces, suspect
A similar scene unfolded on Sunday at a library at York University’s Keele campus.
In a statement released Monday, a York University spokesperson said an unknown male entered the university’s Scott Library at around 5 p.m. and “deposited a substance, suspected of containing fecal matter, on a student.”
Surveillance camera images of the suspect in the York incident were released by police on Monday evening. He has been described by investigators as a black male in his 20s with a medium build. He was wearing a black hat, a blue sweater, light-coloured pants, and thick black gloves at the time of the alleged incident.
In the image, the suspect appears to be carrying some sort of a bucket with a handle.
Suspect
Const. Victor Kwong would not say if police believe the same suspect is responsible for all of the incidents but noted that the suspect descriptions in all three cases are similar.
In each case, police said, a Home Depot bucket was used.
Kwong said police have not yet confirmed if the substance dumped on the victims is in fact human waste but said the bucket seized last night will be forensically tested.
At this point, it appears the victims were targeted at random.
“(The victims) were Asian, however, we don’t think that might be the connection because we have different parts of Asia in there. We have some from the west side, some from the east side,” Kwong said.
Speaking to CP24 on Monday night, Police Chief Mark Saunders called the incidents “serious offences.”
“We’ve got photos from York (University) that we’ve put out… The quality of the photos are pretty good too so the appeal to the public is if you can identify that person, please call us and let us know. There definitely will be an apprehension.”
On Tuesday morning, students at U of T expressed shock and disgust over the disturbing incidents.
“I don’t know how you get that idea,” one student told reporters. “We are all humans… You’ve got to have a bit more respect than that.”
Mayor John Tory addressed the incidents while speaking to reporters ahead of today’s city council meeting, urging members of the public to come forward and assist police.
“I find this kind of behaviour inexplicable. You just can’t understand why anybody would go around and do this kind of thing,” Tory said.
“This is a person, to me, who has very serious issues it would seem. But the most important thing is that the person be tracked down and if you look at the number of people who seem to be in the library when these things happened… then it may really help the police if they come forward with every single bit of information they have.”
Issa shitty shituation lol… Maybe di Asian/Chinese waheva di whole a dem yiy quinge up… dem need fi tap put out di fake tings a try kill off ppl an shit we tap.