The man accused of killing four members of a Muslim family in an alleged act of terrorism is telling a jury he felt an ``urge'' to hit them with his truck after seeing them walking on a sidewalk in London, Ont.
On the stand in the Windsor, Ont., courtroom where his trial is taking place, Nathaniel Veltman says he knew they were Muslims from the clothes they were wearing and he noticed that the man in the group had a beard.
Veltman says he first drove past the family, then made a U-turn and drove directly at the family, veering to the right with the intention of crashing into them with his pickup truck.
The 22-year-old Veltman is accused of deliberately hitting the Afzaal family with his truck in June 2021 while they were out for a walk in London, prosecutors have alleged his actions amount to an act of terrorism.
He has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
Veltman told the jury on Monday he was feeling an urge to commit an act of violence in the days leading up to the June 2021 attack and took a road trip from his apartment in London to Toronto to explore the possibility of attacking Muslims in that city.