Canadian Prime Minister participates in a vigil after a Muslim family was run over to death

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined several thousand mourners in a vigil Tuesday evening to commemorate the deaths of four people from three generations of Canadian Muslims killed as a result of what police described as a premeditated hate crime as a grieving community united in the midst of crisis.

"This is our city," Bilal Rahal, director of the London Mosque in Ontario, told the vigil participants. "You should never allow anyone to make you think otherwise because of the color of your skin, your faith or where you were born...This is our city and we will not go anywhere else."

Last Sunday, four members of one family were killed while walking at night near their home in London, Ontario, and police said that someone killed them was run over by a pickup truck and that he targeted them because of their religion.

The victims are Salman Afzal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, and their daughter, Yomna Afdal, 15.

Afzal's 74-year-old mother also passed away.

Their son, Faez Afzal, 9, remained in hospital on Tuesday after sustaining serious, non-life-threatening injuries and his condition is stable.

Nathaniel Feltman, 20, was charged with driving a pickup truck over the sidewalk, hitting a family in London, a city of more than 400,000 people located 200 kilometers southwest of Toronto.

The accused was arrested on Sunday, a few hundred meters from the London mosque, which the Afzal family used to frequent and where the vigil was held on Tuesday.

In a speech to mourners, Trudeau said his government would take action, without elaborating, after he placed flowers on the steps of the mosque.

"It was an evil act," Trudeau added. "But the light that we glean from the people who are here today and the light that radiates from the Afdal family's life will always be stronger than the darkness."

The majority of those who participated in the vigil wore masks, after an exception from the Ontario government that allowed the vigil to be held despite the restrictions related to the Corona virus.

Also in attendance was Canadian opposition leader Erin O'Toole, as well as other political leaders.

The attack sparked nationwide outrage and led to similar vigils in Toronto, Vancouver and other cities across Canada.

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