CBC News has learned the man charged in connection with a baseball bat attack on an immigrant family is a Toronto personal injury lawyer and the great-grandson of former Toronto mayor Nathan Phillips.
Mark Phillips, 36, was charged on Dec. 8 with aggravated assault and three counts of assault with a weapon in connection with the incident in the parking lot of a St. Thomas, Ont., strip mall.
The family said the man charged at them, unprovoked, before they recorded the confrontation on a cellphone, which has been widely circulated through news outlets and social media.
The video shows a man yelling about terrorists, ISIS and swinging his bat, leaving local man Sergio Estepa with a cracked rib and severe bruising on his back.
Philips' great-grandfather, dubbed "the mayor of all the people," was Toronto's first Jewish mayor and is the namesake of Nathan Phillips Square, located outside Toronto city hall.
His portrait still hangs in the accused's parents' home in Toronto, a childhood friend told CBC News.
His family is shocked and saddened, said uncle Jeff Phillips, a London, Ont., lawyer.
"His father is very upset," he said, noting there was not much else he could say because he had lost contact with his nephew over the years
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Man accused in St. Thomas bat attack is a lawyer from an influential Toronto family - London - CBC News
Mark Phillips, 36, was charged on Dec. 8 with aggravated assault and three counts of assault with a weapon in connection with the incident in the parking lot of a St. Thomas, Ont., strip mall.
The family said the man charged at them, unprovoked, before they recorded the confrontation on a cellphone, which has been widely circulated through news outlets and social media.
The video shows a man yelling about terrorists, ISIS and swinging his bat, leaving local man Sergio Estepa with a cracked rib and severe bruising on his back.
Philips' great-grandfather, dubbed "the mayor of all the people," was Toronto's first Jewish mayor and is the namesake of Nathan Phillips Square, located outside Toronto city hall.
His portrait still hangs in the accused's parents' home in Toronto, a childhood friend told CBC News.
His family is shocked and saddened, said uncle Jeff Phillips, a London, Ont., lawyer.
"His father is very upset," he said, noting there was not much else he could say because he had lost contact with his nephew over the years
video
Man accused in St. Thomas bat attack is a lawyer from an influential Toronto family - London - CBC News
