OTTAWA // The gunman involved in a shootout in Canada’s legislature on Wednesday was a native-born Canadian with a history of drug and robbery charges, who had recently converted to Islam.
Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, was identified as the man who shot and killed a soldier standing guard at an Ottawa war memorial.
After shooting the soldier, Corporal Nathan Cirillo, Zehaf-Bibeau made his way into the country’s main legislature across the street, where he was shot dead by security officials. Witnesses said they heard at least a dozen shots in the building.
Zehaf-Bibeau was known to authorities and had his passport seized because he was considered a high-risk traveller, according to The Globe and Mail.
Zehaf-Bibeau had been born Michael Joseph Hall but had changed his name.
Sherley Goodgie, a spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, declined to comment on the identity of the suspect.
“Fellow Canadians, in the days to come we will learn more about the terrorist and any accomplices he may have had,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a televised address to the country. “This week’s events are a grim reminder that Canada is not immune to the types of terrorist attacks we have seen elsewhere around the world.”
The incident marks the second killing this week of a Canadian soldier.
On Monday, two Canadian armed forces members were hit by a car in a mall parking lot near Montreal by a person authorities said had been a native born Canadian who had become “radicalised”. One of the soldiers was killed.
Martin Rouleau, 25, the suspect in that killing, was shot dead by police after a car chase.
According to the Postmedia news agency, Zehaf-Bibeau was born in Quebec but had a history of moving in recent years, including a stop in Vancouver. He also had a long criminal record, charged with possession of marijuana and phencyclidin and a robbery in Vancouver in 2011.
* Bloomberg
