Police in Quebec were yesterday investigating a gun attack on the victory party for Quebec’s first female prime minister, which left one man dead and another critically wounded hours after voters in the Canadian province elected a minority separatist government.
Pauline Marois, leader of the Parti Quebecois, was making her victory speech at a celebration on Tuesday night when the gunman opened fire, killing a 45-year-old-man. Two bodyguards bundled Ms Marois off stage.
The attacker, who was wearing a blue bathrobe and a balaclava, was tackled to the ground by police outside the concert hall after starting a small fire. He allegedly shouted out twice in French: “The anglophones are waking up.” The attack came at the end of a bitterly divisive election campaign.
Montreal police identified the gunman as Richard Henry Bain (62) from Mont Tremblant, a small town in the Laurentian mountains about 80 miles northwest of Montreal. – (Guardian service)