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Two people were killed and five injured after being stabbed by a man dressed in medieval clothing and wielding a sword, Quebec police said on Sunday, noting that the attack appeared to be motivated by personal reasons and not linked to any terrorist group.
Police arrested a 24-year-old Montreal man early Sunday morning, Quebec Police Chief Robert Pigeon said at a news conference.
“Dressed in a medieval costume and armed with a Japanese sword, everything leads us to believe that he chose his victims at random,” Pigeon said, adding that preliminary information indicated that the man was not affiliated with any terrorist group.
Pigeon said the suspect had come prepared to inflict as much damage as possible, but did not elaborate. The Quebec newspaper Le Soleil said the suspect had gasoline containers in his car. Pigeon declined to comment on the report.
Isolated act
The incident began Saturday night, on Halloween, inside the city’s famous walled center. Police told nearby residents to stay inside and made an arrest after a three-hour chase.
“It is once again, and we believe, an isolated act,” Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume told reporters. “We need to have a social debate on the subject (of mental health) because it is increasingly difficult to handle.”
In 2017, a Canadian shot dead six members of a Quebec City mosque and was later sentenced to life in prison.
The Quebec police chief said Sunday that the suspect had spoken of carrying out an attack “in a medical context” five years ago, but was not known to police and had no criminal record.
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