According to initial investigations, the group of girls who fatally injured a homeless man in Toronto, Canada, met the 59-year-old by accident.

The fact that the girls aged 13 to 16 met in the city center on Saturday is said to have been planned.

As a police spokesman has now confirmed, the young people made an appointment on social media.

Whether they were planning a crime remained open for the time being.

Prosecutors for the province of Ontario on Tuesday charged the eight girls with premeditated murder.

According to the previous investigation, they attacked the homeless man shortly before midnight at the intersection of University and York Street and seriously injured him with unspecified "sharp objects".

The 59-year-old later died in hospital.

Was it alcohol?

Police believe the group of girls attacked the homeless man because he was carrying alcohol.

"We believe the deceased had a bottle and that the youths were trying to get it," police spokesman Terry Browne said.

The alleged perpetrators, three 13-year-olds, three 14-year-olds and two 16-year-olds, were arrested shortly after the attack.

The police confiscated several weapons.

The officer noted that the minors had never met before the crime and that they came from different neighborhoods in Toronto.

So-called swarming, in which young people who have previously been strangers to violent crimes on social media, is now spreading in North America.

Last August, dozens of teenagers in Los Angeles ambushed and looted a late night grocery store after communicating on social media.

The Los Angeles Police Department warned of a possible trend at the time.

Repeated "swarm" attacks have also been reported in Vancouver, Canada, on the west coast of the country in recent months.

In May, video shared on social media shook the city showing a group of girls beating a teenager, breaking her nose and eventually forcing her to kiss her attackers' feet.

Some girls were known to the police

As has now become known after the death of the homeless person in Toronto, at least three of the eight accused have had contact with the police in the past.

In addition, the investigators assume that the group of girls had already attacked other people at the weekend before they stabbed the 59-year-old.

"We do not believe the suspects knew the victim," police spokesman Browne said.

"When a possible target presented itself, they decided to attack it as a group - for whatever reason."