UW stabbing suspect facing new terrorism charge

The man accused of a triple stabbing at the University of Waterloo is now facing a federal terrorism charge.

The new charge is in addition to 11 other charges he’s already facing.

Geovanny Villalba-Aleman appeared in court via video on Friday morning.

The 24-year-old has been in police custody since June 28, after he allegedly stabbed two students and a teacher during a gender studies class. Another student was also injured.

Police have called it a hate-motivated attack, saying Villalba-Aleman planned and targeted the class based on gender expression and gender identity.

Villalba-Aleman was previously charged with several offences, including three counts of aggravated assault, four counts of assault with a weapon, and two counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

He was also charged with mischief under $5,000 for a damaging a Pride flag.

On Aug. 24, police added an additional charge of attempt to commit murder.

Villalba-Aleman is scheduled to appear again in court in person on Sept. 15. No bail hearing has been set yet, so he will remain in police custody.

Geovanny Villalba-Aleman is seen in this undated photo from social media. (LinkedIn/Geovanny Villalba)

TERRORISM CHARGE

Wesley Wark, a national security and intelligence specialist with the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), called the new terrorism charge "significant."

"You have to be able to prove motivation," he explained. "In other words, you have to be able to show evidence that a person was motivated for political, religious or ideological reasons to conduct this act. Second, you have to show the intent was to intimidate, in some way or another, a person or a segment of the population. You have to be sure that you've got that evidence."

While the charge may not affect Villalba-Aleman's sentence, he said there might be a greater impact.

"Kind of a signal to the public about what is going on in terms of threats to public security. It's seen as an important deterrent in terms of how you use the law that way."

Wark added that prosecutors are more willing to lay terrorism charges when they have sufficient evidence, despite dated definitions in the Criminal Code.

"Members of the general public might not think: 'Well, this isn't terrorism as I understand it. This isn't Islamic terrorism. There's no al Qaeda here,'" he said. "That's not what we're thinking about when we come to think about terrorism charges these days."

The Chief for the Waterloo Regional Police Service supports the newest development.

"These latest charges highlight the seriousness and gravity of this incident -- a senseless, horrific act of hate that was both planned and targeted," Mark Crowell said in an email to CTV. "Such acts of violence are unacceptable."

Members of the Waterloo Regional Police investigate a stabbing at the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ont., Wednesday, June 28, 2023. Waterloo Regional Police said three victims were stabbed inside the university's Hagey Hall, with one person was taken into custody. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn

ATTACK AT UW

Villalba-Aleman is an international student who had recently graduated from the University of Waterloo.

On June 28, witnesses said he walked into the gender studies classroom, asked the professor a question and then pulled two knives out of a backpack.

Three people were stabbed during the attack. One was the 38-year-old professor, as well as a 20-year-old student and 19-year-old student. All of them had serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

A Waterloo Regional Police vehicle is seen at the scene of a stabbing at the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ont., Wednesday, June 28, 2023. Canadian universities and colleges should be reassessing their security measures after a professor and two students were stabbed in a classroom west of Toronto in an attack police say was motivated by hate, a free speech expert says. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn

SCHOOLS TAKE ACTION

A growing number of universities have changed their security measures in the wake of the attack.

The University of Waterloo, University of Guelph and Western University are just a few of the schools that will no longer make room locations, course details and instructor names publically accessible.

A community event takes place outside Hagey Hall to focus on supporting one another and making everyone feel safe in Waterloo, Ontario on Thursday, June 29, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nicole Osborne)