A man dressed in medieval clothing and armed with a Japanese sword was on Sunday arrested on suspicion of killing two people and wounding five on Halloween near the historic Chateau Frontenac hotel in Quebec City.
The attack on randomly chosen victims went on for nearly two-and-a-half hours while police pursued the man armed with a katana throughout the city’s downtown core on foot, Quebec Police Chief Robert Pigeon said.
Carl Girouard, 24, faces two counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder, Quebec’s prosecutors’ office said.
Photo: AP
Girouard appeared before a judge via video conference on Sunday and the next hearing in the case is expected to be on Thursday.
Information indicated that the suspect’s motive was personal and not terrorism, police said.
“Last night we were thrust into a night of horror when a 24-year-old man who does not live in Quebec City came here with the clear intention of taking as many victims as possible,” Pigeon said.
The suspect, who was from the Montreal area, had no criminal record, but “in a medical context” over five years ago, he had shared his intention to commit this type of act, Pigeon said.
The investigation is continuing, he said.
Police were first notified of the stabbings near the National Assembly of Quebec shortly before 10:30pm on Saturday, and warned people to remain indoors as they hunted for the attacker.
The two people killed were 56-year-old Francois Duchesne and 61-year-old Suzanne Clermont.
People huddled outside Clermont’s home, where they placed a box filled with flowers and a stuffed cat at her front door.
One neighbor said that Clermont was out smoking a cigarette when she was attacked.
“She was my friend,” said Lucie Painchaud, a resident of the area for 16 years. “It’s unbelievable. I can’t still compute.”
The horror of Saturday night’s events was also setting in at the nearby Musee National des Beaux-Arts du Quebec, where Duchesne was described as a much-loved employee.
“We are all in shock,” spokeswoman Linda Tremblay said in a statement, describing the attack as an “inexplicable and unfair tragedy.”
The five injured victims were taken to a hospital.
“Some have very significant lacerations, but we do not fear for their lives,” Pigeon said.
Steve Jolicoeur, a freelance photographer, said that Duchesne had his throat slit.
Another person was cut on the shoulder while another was cut on the head and hand, Jolicoeur said.
He said he witnessed the arrest of the suspect, who threw his sword in the air.
“He seemed confused,” Jolicoeur said. “He was in black clothes, like a ninja.”
Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume said that Canada needs to have a debate about how to deal with mental illness.
He said the attack has shaken the city, which is still recovering from a shooting at a mosque in 2017 that killed six people.
“Quebec is waking up after a night of horror. Words fail me to describe such a tragedy. I offer my condolences to the families of the victims,” Quebec Premier Francois Legault wrote on Twitter.
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