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Deadly Shooting At Quebec Election Victory Party
One person shot dead at PQ victory party
Quote:
MONTREAL - One man is dead and a second critically injured after shots were fired on the threshold of the Montreal theatre where premier-elect Pauline Marois was giving a victory speech in a bizarre outburst of election-night violence.
Marois was whisked from the stage by bodyguards and returned a few moments later unharmed.
Montreal police spokesman Ian Lafrenière says a man in his 50s was “quickly apprehended” after approaching the back of Metropolis, penetrating a vestibule and opening fire.
“For us this is a homicide investigation,” he said.
Television footage showed a heavy-set man in a blue bathrobe and black balaclava yelling: “the anglos are waking up” in French with an English accent as he was led away by police. Then alternating between English and French he added: “There’s going to be f-ing payback. It’s enough. Wanna make trouble.”
Footage showed a high-powered rifle, which Twitter users identified as an AK-47 or Valmont Hunter weapon.
Lafrenière said two guns were recovered at the scene but there was no reason to believe there was more than one shooter.
Urgences Santé spokesperson Stéphane Smith said a man died on the scene and two others were transported to hospital. One man is in critical condition, while a third person was treated for shock, Smith said.
Lafrenière said the dead man was in his 40s, but refused to say more out of respect for the victim’s family.
However a witness told The Gazette at least one of the two men shot was a stage technician waiting to dismantle the set where Marois was speaking.
Witnesses also said the suspect launched some kind of incendiary device into a nearby Dumpster, igniting it briefly before the flames were doused.
A section of Ste. Catherine St. in front of the Metropolis was been closed as a security perimeter was erected around the scene.
Marois, Quebec’s premier-elect, was rushed from the stage mid-speech by her bodyguards just before midnight after her Parti Québécois won a minority government.
Marois returned to the microphone shortly after and told stunned supporters an “unfortunate incident” had occurred. She asked the crowd to leave the theatre and appealed for calm, saying: “That is what a woman head of government does.”
The incident put a damper on what was a noisy, happy celebration of Marois’s victory as the first woman to lead Quebec.
Sylvain Giguere, a PQ supporter, said after Marois was yanked offstage, “the room went deadly quiet.”
The other party leaders, including outgoing premier Jean Charest and Coalition Avenir Québec leader François Legault denounced the tragic turn of events.
Montreal police downplayed how close the suspect got to Quebec’s newly elected premier.
“Yes, he entered inside the theatre, but he was only in the entryway ... a vestibule,” Lafrenière said. “The suspect was quickly apprehended. The incident took place behind the theatre.”
He added that it was too early to speculate about the suspect’s motivations or whether he has a criminal record.
“What was his motive? Those are things we are looking into,” Lafrenière said.
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SOURCE:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/...#ixzz25aBXV2PH
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