A mask-wearing gunman shot and killed one person at a victory rally for the new premier of the Canadian province of Quebec.
Pauline Marois and the Parti Québécois won over the incumbent Liberal Party Tuesday evening. Marois will be the province’s first female premier.
However, Marois’s victory speech at the rally in Montreal was abruptly ended when a ski mask-wearing assailant stormed the building with a rifle and opened fire.
The alleged shooter also threw what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail and yelled, “The anglos are waking up” in French but had an English accent, reported the National Post. “There’s going to be ... payback,” he was quoted as saying.
A police spokesperson, Guy Lapointe, told reporters it is unclear whether the new premier was a target or not. Police said they believe the gunman, who was identified as a 62-year-old man, acted alone.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he was “angered and saddened by the shooting.
“It is a tragic day where an exercise of democracy is met with an act of violence,” he said in a statement released Wednesday.
“On behalf of all Canadians, I offer my deepest condolences to the family and friends of the victim and wish the person injured a swift and complete recovery.
“This atrocious act will not be tolerated and such violence has no place in Canada. Canadians can rest assured that the perpetrator of last night’s events will face the full force of the law.”
Montreal police told reporters the suspect was “quickly apprehended” after he opened fire.
“We know that he had more than one weapon, we know that he set a fire also,” police spokesperson Ian Lafrenière said.
Lafrenière said the man was not from Montreal but was a Quebecer. He could not speak to the suspect’s intentions.
