Incel who killed Toronto spa worker admits being inspired by Alek Minassian

Editor’s note: This article mentions and discusses violence and death.

The teen who killed an erotic spa employee in North York, Toronto, has pleaded guilty to his crime and admitted the incel ideology of Alek Minassian inspired him.

Since he was 17 at the time of the attack, the spa killer’s name and identity have been kept from the public by law.

On February 24, 2020, the killer bought a large machete-like sword from Amazon, walked to the erotic parlour just minutes away from his house, and attacked Ashley Arzaga, who worked there as a receptionist.

He was taken down after a physical altercation with the owner that left both parties injured.

The words “THOT Slayer” were inscribed on the sword. THOT (That H*e Over There) is a misogynistic acronym used to describe promiscuous or sexually liberated women.

On Wednesday, the spa killer pleaded guilty to the murder of Arzaga, confessing that the incel movement was what inspired him to take up arms against women.

He also hailed the van attacker as an inspirational figure.

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In 2018, Alek Minassian from the Richmond Hill area rented a minivan and rammed it into a group of pedestrians in Toronto, leaving 10 dead and 14 injured. He was charged with 10 counts of murder and 16 counts of attempted murder and was imprisoned in March last year.

Facebook posts from the then-25-year-old attacker showed he identified with the incel ideology and was inspired by Elliot Rodger to carry out the misogyny-fuelled massacre.

Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old American student, had gone on a similar hate-filled rampage in 2014. He killed six and injured 14 when he opened fire at several spots in Isla Vista, California. Rodger later killed himself.

Just over a year after the Toronto spa attack, a man in Atlanta carried out an attack on a massage parlour in Atlanta, killing three women. Two of them were of Asian descent.

The rapidly spreading misogynistic ideology of the “incel rebellion” has been worrying human rights activists and social scientists, who are calling on major websites to de-platform those who peddle these ideas.

This has led to men like Andrew Tate, a homophobic and misogynistic podcaster, being banned from several social media websites.