Sun News – by Maxime DelandSAINT-JEAN-SUR-RICHELIEU, Que. – A solider hit by a car driven by a “radicalized” Quebec man has died, police say.
The identity of the soldier was not released, but the Surete du Quebec confirmed early Tuesday that the soldier died late Monday night in hospital.
Just after 11:30 a.m. ET Monday, a man ran down two Canadian soldiers, then told a 911 operator he was acting in the name of Allah, a police source told QMI Agency.
The suspect, 25-year-old Martin Couture-Rouleau, was shot and killed after a police chase.
The Prime Minister’s Office said Couture-Rouleau had become “radicalized” and was known to federal authorities, including the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team.
“Federal authorities have confirmed that there are clear indications that the individual had become radicalized,” the PMO said in a statement late Monday.
“As Canada’s national security agencies have said, Canadians should remain vigilant.”
The PMO said Harper was briefed by RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Tom Lawson and National Security Adviser Stephen Rigby.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the attack left him “troubled.”
Couture-Rouleau became known to the RCMP after a relative alerted police to the man’s terrorist leanings, a police source told QMI Agency.
A neighbor told QMI Agency Couture-Rouleau had grown out his beard and started wearing a turban after converting to Islam a year ago.
It appears that the suspect posted jihadist propaganda to the Internet under the name Ahmad Rouleau.
A Facebook page under the name Ahmad Rouleau, created in May 2013, included a number of verses from the Qu’ran.
Couture-Rouleau led police on a chase after mowing down the soldiers – one in uniform, one in plainclothes – in the parking lot of an auto-insurance outlet. He lost control and rolled his car, which came to rest on its roof at the bottom of a ditch in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, 30 minutes south of Montreal.
The suspect allegedly crawled out a window with a long knife and an eyewitness said the man charged at a woman police officer.
“I heard them (police) shout several times, ‘Get out of the car, get out of the car and raise your hands,'” the woman said. “The man got out and charged towards the policewoman. Then that’s when we heard seven gunshots, then the man was on the ground.”
Another witness said the suspect put his hands up at first, then “charged like a bull” towards the policewoman before seven or eight gunshots rang out.
A knife could be seen stuck in the grass near the flipped car. A curved, ornamental handle protruded into the air.
Speaking Monday afternoon in the House of Commons, Tory MP Randy Hoback asked about “unconfirmed reports of a possible terror attack against two members of the Canadian Armed Forces.
“Can the Prime Minister please update this House on this matter?”
Harper replied: “We are aware of these reports that are very troubling. Our thoughts and our prayers are with the victims and the families.
“We are following the situation very closely and will make available all of the resources of the federal government.”
The soldiers were hit less than 3 km from the French-language Royal Military College Saint-Jean.
–With files from Brian Daly, Marie-Laurence Delainey
(PHOTOS VIA MAXIME DELAND/QMI AGENCY)
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2014/10/20141020-131709.html
In the first photo of the series, is someone really wearing hot pink urban camo bdu at the scene?!
It’s French Canada – They are a little different back there.
Haha Either that or she/he is trying to blend in at a gay pride parade?!