Ottawa Gunman Identified as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, 32; Authorities Say No Motive Is Yet Known

First of all, the soldier gunned down has been identified as well: He was 24-year-old Corporal Nathan Cirillo.

RIP, Corporal Cirillo:

Regarding the killer:

A search on the internet for the name "Zehaf" discloses that the name is chiefly known in Algeria and Morocco (and France, but that is explained easily enough by the hundreds of thousands of French Algerians now living in France).

But he seems to have dubbed himself with that name:

Authorities say they do not yet know Michael Zehaf-Bibeau's motive for gunning down an innocent stranger.

However, Reuters just reported he was an Islamic convert.

Two U.S. officials said that U.S. agencies have been advised that the shooter was a Canadian convert to Islam.

It should be noted that the media is still suggesting this is likely a case of jihadism, and authorities don't seem to be warning them off that theory.

The incident comes just two days after two Canadian soldiers were run over, one of them killed, in Quebec by a man with jihadist sympathies.

That suspect, 25-year-old Martin Couture Rouleau, was shot by police, and later died.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman David Falls said Monday that the suspect "was known to federal authorities" and "authorities were concerned that he had become radicalized."

The case is similar to one in London last year in which an al Qaeda-inspired extremist and another man ran over a soldier with a car before hacking the off-duty soldier to death. Images of Michael Adebolajo, 29, holding a butcher knife and cleaver with bloodied hands in the moments after the May 2013 killing of Fusilier Lee Rigby shocked people around the world and sparked fears of Islamist terrorism in Britain.

Supposedly, a picture of Zehaf-Bibeau, dressed like a jihadi, was posted by an "ISIS media account."

The French says something a bit clumsy like "A photo which would be that of the Ottawa shooter." I don't speak French so I don't know if that really is clumsy, or it just seems clumsy.

The account that's from does call itself "Islamic Media," apparently a French-language Islamic site. However, I have no idea if this really is an ISIS account as some say, or if this really is a picture of Zehaf-Bibeau.

I don't know if that picture is real, or a hoax, but you're going to see it anyway. Might as well see it here.

Thanks to @jimmyprinceton for that picture.

Good Lord: Zehaf-Bibeau had been designated a "high-risk traveler" by Canada (which I'm going to assume maybe meant he had some intention to fly to Syria), and his passport was seized.

ources told The Globe and Mail that he was recently designated a “high-risk traveller” by the Canadian government and that his passport had been seized – the same circumstances surrounding the case of Martin Rouleau-Couture, the Quebecker who was shot Monday after running down two Canadian Forces soldiers with his car.

Rouleau-Couture, the car-killer, had himself wanted to fly to Syria to fight with ISIS.

posted by Ace at 05:25 PM

| Access Comments