Crime

Despite what we might wish to believe, we have a real problem here. A Canadian was murdered every 11 hours in 2021; our homicide rate is four times worse than Italy’s.

The warmth of this year’s festive period was undeniably dampened by horrific incidents of violent crime that rattled Canadians to their core. A shocking mass shooting at a condo building in Vaughan, an appalling tale of young girls allegedly stabbing an unhoused man to death in downtown Toronto, and a spate of increasing random attacks on the TTC combined to produce a most dispiriting and tragic holiday news cycle.

But no matter the time of year in which these violent acts unfold, their occurrence and nature point to a deeper truth, one often buried or obscured but made all too clear in recent weeks: Canada has a serious crime problem.

The mugshot showed him staring impassively into the camera after police descended on a house in the quiet community of Effort, deep in the Pocono mountains in Pennsylvania, to lead him away.

Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old doing a PhD in criminology, was wanted for the knife murder of four students at the University of Idaho 2,500 miles away. His arrest was the first big breakthrough in a case that had baffled police, sparked a series of online conspiracy theories and terrorised the small college town of Moscow, Idaho, where the murders were discovered almost seven weeks ago.

Canada’s kid-glove treatment of violent criminals today — easy bail, soft sentencing, statutory release, early parole, special treatment for members of some minority groups, keeping the identities of young offenders secret even when they commit murder — didn’t happen by accident.

The suspect in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students worried his family with his bizarre eating habits, according to a relative.

Speaking exclusively to The Post Friday afternoon, a former aunt of Bryan Kohberger said his dietary restrictions were “very, very weird.”

“It was above and beyond being vegan,” said the aunt, who declined to be identified but said she was previously married into the family.

Randall McKenzie was out on bail when he allegedly squeezed the trigger and fired at rookie OPP Const. Const. Grzegorz “Greg” Pierzchala outside Hagersville on Tuesday.

Two bullets reportedly hit the 28-year-old officer and he died a short time later in the hospital.

Idaho police say they’re still searching for the murder weapon used to slaughter four students as they arrested and charged a 28 year-old with the killings.

Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary – which he committed ‘with the intention to kill’ the University of Idaho students.

Moscow Chief of Police James Fry added that Kohberger was taken into custody by a SWAT team at a property in Albrighton, Pennsylvania at 3am on Friday morning.

"This is not the end of this investigation. In fact, this is a new beginning."

Moscow police announce arrest of Bryan Kohberger, 28, charged with murders of four University of Idaho students; he is jailed in Pennsylvania and is set to appear in court next Tuesday. @livenowfox pic.twitter.com/cDxZA4Rdvf

— Josh Breslow (@JoshBreslowTV) December 30, 2022

The head of Canada’s largest provincial police force strongly criticized the country’s bail system in the wake of an on-duty officer’s shooting death — drawing attention to a legal practice that is frequently misunderstood and beset with inequity.

Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Thomas Carrique said he was “outraged” that Randall McKenzie, the suspect alleged to have shot Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala on Dec. 27, was out on early bail and had a lifetime ban from owning a firearm.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Dec. 29 echoed the words of Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Commissioner Thomas Carrique by calling for certain reforms to the federal justice system, particularly regarding bail applications, when commenting on the recent death of an on-duty OPP officer.

“Too many innocent people have lost their lives at the hands of dangerous criminals who should have been behind bars—not on our streets,” Ford said in a statement.

These are the people of the Healing Lodge. The white man’s ways of justice are racist!

A criminology student has been arrested for the murders of four University of Idaho students more than six weeks ago.

Arrest records obtained by DailyMail.com show that Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested after FBI and local cops swooped in Scranton, Pennsylvania, at around 3am this morning.

Sources say that authorities knew who they were looking for and hunted the suspect down to Pennsylvania in the Pocono Mountains – more than 2,400 miles from Idaho.

Kohberger is being held for extradition in a criminal homicide investigation based on an active arrest warrant for first degree murder issued by the Moscow Police Department and Latah County Prosecutor’s Office.

It is understood that Kohberger is a college student but does not attend the University of Idaho, according to police sources.

From AP – Suspect in deaths of Idaho students arrested in Pennsylvania

pic.twitter.com/MsF31qgURB

— Linda (@LindaFawcett2) December 30, 2022

Eight teenage girls facing second-degree murder charges for the swarming and killing of a formerly homeless man made their first court appearance Thursday.

And one of the accused teens was released on bail.