Canada’s first homegrown ISIS sympathiser was shot dead on Monday night after he attacked two Canadian soldiers without warning at a parking lot in the town of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, 24 miles from Montreal.
The 25-year-old Muslim man, Martin Couture-Rouleau, a resident of the town, allegedly attempted to run over two soldiers in his vehicle while simultaneously calling the police, stating that he was perpetrating the attack “in the name of Allah.”
Following the attack, which is believed to be of a terrorist nature and related to the current war in the Middle East, a two-and-a-half mile car chase ensued, ending when Rouleau crashed his car into a ditch. The police who gave chase then shot the suspect as he ran at them with a knife.
While it has not yet been confirmed whether or not the soldiers were in uniform at the time of the attack, one soldier who was critically wounded by the car later died in hospital.
Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper’s office released a statement stating,
“The individual who struck the two [Canadian armed forces] members with his car is 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.”
Neighbors of the suspect told Reuters that Rouleau had converted to Islam a year ago and had been looking more and more like a radical Jihadist in recent months.
His Facebook page speaks volumes about where he was holding in his radical ideology as it featured the notorious black ISIS flag along with the chilling caption, “there will be no surrender. Victory or martyrdom in the path of Allah.”
According to reports in the Toronto Star, R ouleau tried to join ISIS fighters in Iraq recently, but he was prevented from leaving Canada by Border officials. Border police had his name listed as a potential Islamist and prevented him from leaving due to security concerns, officials said at the time.
The terror-style ISIS attack in Montreal comes after a similar incident in Oklahoma, where a man also claiming to be an ISIS supporter, randomly attacked and beheaded a co-worker, while, at the time, US officials strenuously denied any link between Islamism and the murder.