Four workers injured in Toronto office stabbing

(Canadian OH&S News) — Police arrested a 47-year-old man on April 9 after a stabbing spree in an office in north Toronto. Four employees of Ceridian Canada Ltd., the Canadian branch of an American human resources company, were injured in the incident.

The Toronto Police Service (TPS) was called to an office building at 4110 Yonge Street just after 9:30 a.m. on that day. Officers received word that a man, reported as being in his 30s, had attacked several people with a sharp object — believed to be either scissors or a knife — on the building’s fifth floor, according to Constable Victor Kwong, a media relations officer for the TPS.

“When we got there, we locked down the entire building and traced everything back to just the fifth floor. So eventually, it was only the fifth floor that was locked down,” said Constable Kwong. “We got one man who had been held down by fellow employees, and he was arrested with no further incident.”

The police identified the alleged assailant as Chuang Li, who lives in Mississauga, part of the Greater Toronto Area. News reports have stated that Li was a Ceridian employee, a computer programmer, who was about to be fired just before the incident occurred.

Three men and one woman were sent to the hospital after the attack, according to information from the TPS. One of the men was released shortly afterwards; the other three victims remained in the hospital, with the woman suffering from life-threatening injuries.

Li currently faces 11 charges: three counts of attempted murder, four of aggravated assault and four of assault with a weapon. Constable Kwong speculated that the lack of a fourth attempted murder charge was connected to the victim who had been released from the hospital right away. “So it would have been very minor,” Constable Kwong said, referring to that victim’s injury.

According to the Criminal Code of Canada, there is no minimum sentence for attempted murder if the offender does not use a firearm, while the maximum is life imprisonment. Aggravated assault carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison, while assault with a weapon can potentially net 10 years.

Ceridian Canada could not comment about the incident to COHSN due to a publication ban, but had already released a press statement in the afternoon following the attack. “This is a very difficult time. The entire Ceridian family is shocked and deeply saddened by this incident,” the firm said, referring to Li as a “former employee.”

Li was scheduled to appear in a Toronto courthouse on the morning after the incident. No further details have been publicly released, and the investigation was still ongoing as of press time.