Witness describes scene of Toronto van attack: 'I saw people go flying'

A witness who watched a van driver plow into a crowd of pedestrians in Toronto, Canada, on Monday described watching the horrific scene unfold.

Kasra Ebrahimi, a student who was just a few blocks away from the scene when the attack took place, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that he witnessed the exact moment the van drove onto a crowded sidewalk, killing ten people and injuring 15 others.

"It hits people, it looks like movies. I saw people go flying," he told the outlet. "People were screaming and yelling."

Ebrahimi said that he noticed between four and five victims on the ground following the attack, surrounded by first responders trying to help them.

"But I don't think they were still alive," Ebrahimi added.

Scenes from the attack:

Dainis Cevers, another eyewitness, said he saw the van strike a man who he believed to be homeless as he was crossing the street.

"The [van] comes from the second [lane], accelerating fast, going towards this homeless guy," Cevers told CBC.

Cevers said he watched the victim as he "flew up in the sky" after he was struck.

"I tried to see if the guy was OK, but he was bleeding from the head — unconscious, eyes open," Cevers recounted. "There's nothing I can say. I feel terrible."

These are the victims of the Toronto van attack:

The driver, 25-year-old Alek Minassian, was arrested nearly a half an hour after he allegedly plowed a white rental van through a crowd of pedestrians Monday afternoon.

During his first court appearance on Tuesday, he was formally charged with ten counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. He is due back in court on May 10.