According to Canadian authorities, four members of a Canadian Muslim family who were slain when a pickup truck hopped the curb and ran them over on Sunday were deliberately targeted in an anti-Islamic hate crime.

“There is evidence that this was a planned, deliberate crime motivated by hatred,” London, Ontario, police Detective Superintendent Paul Waight told reporters.

“These victims are thought to have been targeted because they were Muslim,” Waight stated.

Nathaniel Veltman, a 20-year-old suspect, was apprehended by police on Sunday. According to witnesses, his truck went off the road, over the curb, struck the family, and then fled at high speed.

Veltman has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. He is identified as a London resident. After being remanded to custody on Monday, he is due back in court on Thursday.

Veltman has no criminal history and is not known to be a member of a hate group, according to authorities. He was apprehended without incident in a mall parking lot while wearing a body-armor-type vest, according to authorities. He did not have any accomplices, according to the evidence.

Since a man gunned down six members of a Quebec City mosque in 2017, this was the worst attack against Canadian Muslims. Ed Holder, the mayor of London, described it as the worst mass murder his city had ever witnessed.

The family requested that the victims' names not be publicized just yet, but they did disclose their ages, according to police.