Toronto Police ServiceUpdate: Toronto police have arrested the alleged culprit behind the attacks today, Wednesday November 27. Samuel Opoku, 23, of Toronto, has been charged with five counts of assault with a weapon and five counts of mischief interfere with property.
A serial sh*t-thrower appears to be on the loose in Toronto after a bucket of diarrhoea was dumped over a woman on Monday night – the third such incident in the city in the last four days.
Police say a bucket of ‘liquefied faecal matter’ was poured over the woman in the area of College Street and University Avenue at around midnight, near a building on the University of Toronto’s downtown campus.
Officers have not yet confirmed the person responsible for each incident is the same person, although the similarities are uncanny: in each instance, the suspect approached an unsuspecting person at a university library before dumping a bucket of liquid diarrhoea on them and running away.
CP24.comThe first incident reportedly occurred at the University of Toronto’s Robarts Library on November 22, with one student who witnessed the assault telling CP24 a man appeared out of nowhere holding a bucket.
She said the man walked over to a male who was seated at a table, and dumped the bucket – which smelled of urine and faeces – over his head without warning.
The witness explained:
It didn’t smell at first and then all of a sudden, the smell hit. I thought I was going to like faint or like cry… Me and my friends just packed up our stuff and ran out of the room. [I] will never forget that smell.
Toronto Police ServiceThe second incident took place at a library on York University’s campus on Sunday, November 24. It was this incident that enabled police to get a look at the suspect through surveillance camera images.
These images showed the suspect – who has been described as a black male in his 20s with medium build, according to the police report – seemingly laughing as he carried some sort of a bucket with a handle. He was wearing a black hat, blue top, light-coloured pants and black gloves.
Police are searching for additional video surveillance footage of all three incidents, with Constable Victor Kwong confirming the suspect descriptions in all three incidents are similar.
The similarities don’t stop there though, as police have confirmed a Home Depot bucket was used each time. This bucket was left behind at the scene on Monday night.
Toronto Police ServiceKwong said police are yet to confirm if the substance dumped on the victims was human waste, but the bucket seized last night will be forensically tested.
At this point, it appears the victims were targeted at random.
Anyone with any information regarding the assaults is asked to contact police on 416-808-3100, or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 416-222-TIPS (8477).
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).