Michael Zehaf-Bibeau

Classified by the RCMP as a terrorist act under the Criminal Code, it was the most serious security breach at Parliament Hill since the 1966 parliament bombing. It took place two days after a man used his car to run over two soldiers in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, killing one. The two incidents, which attracted international attention, raised concerns about the effectiveness of police actions to prevent terrorist attacks, the prevention of radicalization and the security measures in place at federal and provincial legislatures. The Canadian government had already prepared a bill to expand the courtroom anonymity and surveillance powers of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Canada's intelligence agency, which was due to be introduced the day of the shootings, and was postponed by the event. The government introduced new anti-terrorism measures with the Anti-terrorism Act, 2015. Security at Parliament Hill is to be stepped up. On June 3, 2015 it was reported that "RCMP officers have started openly carrying submachine guns on Parliament Hill as part of a visible increase to...security."

On November 15, it was reported that Zehaf-Bibeau's body had remained at the Ottawa coroner's office for examination. According to the procedure to be followed by the coroner, the examination must report the entry and exit wound of each gunshot wound, and a toxicology report. After the examination is complete, his remains must be buried according to Islamic convention. The issue of accepting his body for an eventual funeral was problematic for the Ottawa Muslim Association mosque: "while denouncing what he did as a crime, a terrorist attack against a soldier who was serving the country, we say that if he's believing in God, if he's a Muslim, then he should be buried," said imam Samy Metwally. "We will give him a funeral service." However, on November 18, the coroner in an interview announced that the body was released "over a week ago". The coroner did not release the details of the autopsy, when the body was released or whom the body was released to, citing legal restrictions. On February 26, 2015, the Ottawa Citizen reported that Zehaf-Bibeau was buried in Zawiya, Libya, by arrangements made by his family.

On February 24, 2015, the Canadian House of Commons public safety committee passed a motion to invite RCMP Commissioner Paulson to "publicly display and discuss the video" that Zehaf-Bibeau recorded at a future meeting of the committee. Commissioner Paulson showed the video (minus 18 seconds which the RCMP said might be pertinent to investigations into accomplices) at the public safety committee meeting of March 6. Zehaf-Bibeau is quoted as saying: "This is in retaliation for Afghanistan and because Harper [Prime Minister Stephen Harper] wants to send his troops to Iraq. Canada's officially become one of our enemies by fighting and bombing us and creating a lot of terror in our countries and killing us and killing our innocents. So, just aiming to hit some soldiers just to show that you're not even safe in your own land, and you gotta be careful. We'll not cease until you guys decide to be a peaceful country and stay to your own and stop going to other countries and stop occupying and killing the righteous of us who are trying to bring back religious law in our countries. Thank you." The video was recorded in the car, in Ottawa, on the day of the shootings and was found in the car abandoned in front of Parliament. Paulson said he believes that someone else was involved, and if they were found to have aided Zehaf-Bibeau, that they would be charged with terrorism offences. Paulson also said a post-mortem test for drugs and alcohol on Zehaf-Bibeau was negative and that he had a long knife tied to his wrist when he was killed by Parliament Hill security.

On May 29, 2015, the RCMP released the full transcript of Zehaf-Bibeau's video. The missing 18 seconds included Zehaf-Bibeau asking God to praise his actions and curse those he is targeting.

In June 2015, the CBC reported some information from the OPP report. The CBC reported that Zehaf-Bibeau was hit 31 times by police including a shot to the back of the head by RCMP Constable Curtis Barrett after which the RCMP stopped firing. He was then hand-cuffed although he was already dead. Vickers himself shot 15 times. After entering the Centre Block, there was an exchange of gunfire between Zehaf-Bibeau and House of Commons Security Corporal Malo. Zehaf-Bibeau then ran down the Hall of Honour. House of Commons Security Constable Louis Letourneau shot at Zehaf-Bibeau 15 times, hitting him once, an event recorded on Centre Block security video. Four RCMP officers advanced on Zehaf-Bibeau, who took one more shot, narrowly missing RCMP Constable Barrett, then started a barrage at Zehaf-Bibeau. The OPP report concluded that the officers' actions were all justified. The OPP report also contained the information that it was determined that Zehaf-Bibeau shot Corporal Cirillo three times in the back at the War Memorial, not twice as was previously reported.

In October 2015, CTV News reported that it had obtained an "unredacted" copy of the OPP report. In it, it was reported that four RCMP officers were involved in the shootout: Const. Curtis Barrett, Const. Martin Fraser, Sgt. Rick Rozon and Corp. Dany Daigle. According to CTV News, the constables were told after Kevin Vickers was applauded for his actions that "the Kevin Vickers train has left the station but you guys will get internal recognition." Recognition was to include a commissioner's commendation and recommendation for a Governor General's Award. According to CTV, the officers did not receive commendations and were on stress leave.

The 2014 shootings at Parliament Hill were a series of shootings that occurred on October 22, 2014, at Parliament Hill in Ottawa. At the Canadian National War Memorial, Corporal Nathan Cirillo, a Canadian soldier and reservist on ceremonial sentry duty was fatally shot by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. Zehaf-Bibeau then entered the nearby Centre Block parliament building, where members of the Parliament of Canada were attending caucuses. After wrestling with a constable at the entrance, Zehaf-Bibeau ran inside and had a shootout with parliament security personnel. He was shot 31 times by six officers and died on scene. Following the shootings, the downtown core of Ottawa was placed on lockdown and majority of schools in Ottawa were on lockdown while police searched for any potential additional threats. A Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigation into the shootings is ongoing. The attacker, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, was a 32-year-old Canadian habitual offender and drug addict from Montreal. He had been observed by acquaintances exhibiting erratic behaviour. At the time of the shooting, Zehaf-Bibeau planned to leave Canada for the Middle East and was living in a homeless shelter in Ottawa while waiting for the processing of his Canadian passport application. According to RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson the "passport issue was central to what was driving" Zehaf-Bibeau. Zehaf-Bibeau made a video prior to the attack in which he expressed his desire to "kill some soldiers" and his motives as being related "to Canada's foreign policy and in respect of his religious beliefs." To acquaintances and co-workers, he had previously expressed support for jihadists and others in the Middle East resisting the West's intervention, but was not known to the police to be a terrorism risk. In his mother's opinion, the attack was the "last desperate act" of someone with a mental disorder who felt trapped. Some Canadian Muslim organizations condemned the attack.

On October 20, in the 2014 Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu ramming attack, Martin Couture-Rouleau attacked two Canadian Armed Forces soldiers. Rouleau was a 25-year-old Québécois who became a Muslim convert in 2013 and was a supporter of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Rouleau used his car to run over the two soldiers before being fatally shot by police after an ensuing car chase. Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, age 53, subsequently died from injuries.

Shortly before 10:00 a.m. EDT, on October 22, 2014, witnesses saw Zehaf-Bibeau arrive at the National War Memorial carrying a rifle, which was later identified as a .30–30 Winchester Model 94 lever-action hunting rifle. He was dressed in blue jeans and a black jacket, with a keffiyeh scarf over the lower part of his face. He approached Corporal Nathan Cirillo of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's), a reserve infantry unit, who was one of three sentries from the Ceremonial Guard posted at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. At close range, Zehaf-Bibeau shot Cirillo twice in the back, fatally wounding him. Cirillo, like all others who have stood sentry at the memorial, carried an unloaded firearm, and had been provided by the CAF with no particular training for such a situation. It was only minutes before the end of the sentries' shift, which ended at 10:00 a.m. Cpl. Kyle Button and Cpl. Branden Stevenson, two other soldiers on sentry duty, attempted to stop Zehaf-Bibeau, but they were shot at by him and forced to flee to the other side of the Memorial. Zehaf-Bibeau then pulled down his scarf, held his rifle one-handedly over his head and yelled, "For Iraq." Cpl. Anthony Wiseman, who was nearby, then attempted to stop Zehaf-Bibeau, but Zehaf-Bibeau attempted to run him over. The three soldiers then attended to Cirillo. Along with bystanders, they applied first aid to Cirillo, attempting to resuscitate him, before Paramedic Chief Anthony DiMonte was first on scene assumed patient care until and additional Paramedics arrived to provided medical care before Cirillo was taken to hospital.

As soon as the war memorial was reopened to the public, a makeshift memorial to Cirillo grew in front of it; residents laid out flowers, cards, and wreaths. On October 24, 2014, Cirillo's body was transported home to Hamilton in an official motorcade along Ontario Highway 401, the portion of which between Trenton and Toronto is known as the Highway of Heroes. The times of the motorcade were publicized and people stood at overpasses to observe and as it passed. Cirillo's family released a statement and gave thanks to the Canadian Forces for the support offered and to those who came to the soldier's aid. Thousands attended visitation at the funeral home where Cirillo lay in repose. He was accorded the honour of a full regimental funeral service and funeral procession on October 28 in Hamilton, attended by family, soldiers, and dignitaries.

Considerable media attention was paid to the ideology and pathology of Zehaf-Bibeau. Along with Martin Couture-Rouleau and Justin Bourque, he has been labelled a "lone-wolf terrorist". Couture-Rouleau and Zehaf-Bibeau were "both self-radicalized and adrift in their lives and connected in their sympathy to radical Islamic ideology." Other opinions diverged from simply calling Zehaf-Bibeau a terrorist. Andrea Polko, boyfriend of Nathan Cirillo said in a statement on Facebook that the dysfunctional state of the Canadian mental health care system was to blame for the shooting. Vancouver Sun columnist Ian Mulgrew commented on how the incident, as well as a failed bombing attempt in Victoria by persons motivated similarly to Zehaf-Bibeau, showed 'gaping holes' in the social security net. "These incidents are examples not of Muslim extremism but of the lack of community support for the dysfunctional of any faith who, with a lack of proper attention or the wrong catalyst, become dangerous. I know which approach would make me feel safer, what I would call real security measures: a social safety net that caught those in obvious need before they went postal, people like Zehaf-Bibeau." Further divergence of opinion appeared in the criticism of the government's labelling the shooting as a terrorist attack. James Baxter, editor-in-chief of ipolitics.ca, an Ottawa political 'zine, said "the government is exploiting two isolated murders to push through sweeping new surveillance powers" and pointed out "the would-be 'terrorists' involved were armed only with a car and a vintage hunting rifle". Journalist Linda McQuaig said "lots of hype about Canada and our institutions being under attack — even as it got harder to explain the difference between the 'terrorist' murders of two soldiers and the 'non-terrorist' murders of three RCMP officers in Moncton. The main difference appeared to be that the shooter in Moncton was not a follower of Islam". Academic Emer O'Toole said there was a double standard in the response by the Harper government relative to the 2014 Moncton shooting saying, "Harper's minimal statement after Justin Bourque shot and killed three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers in Moncton, New Brunswick, in June, made no mention of terror. Yet Bourque's actions bore the hallmarks of a conservative and conspiratorial anti-state worldview reminiscent of Norwegian killer Anders Breivik. There was no appeal to Canadian solidarity in the face of an attack on "our country, our values, on our society"; there was no affirmation to "remain vigilant against those at home and abroad who would harm us."

A national poll by the Angus Reid organization released on November 25, 2014 revealed that Canadians in general were also split as well on whether the attack and shooting was an act of terrorism or mental illness. 38% felt that it was the result of mental illness, while 36% felt it was terrorism, with 25% undecided. Asked about what the federal government should do as a result, 54% felt that more initiatives should be done to prevent radicalization, while 34% favoured harsher punishments. On how to deal with homegrown terrorists, 54% felt that indefinite incarceration only motivated persons to commit crimes, while 46% felt it prevented violent crime.

An article in The Daily Beast suggested that the attacks by Couture-Rouleau and Zehaf-Bibeau were connected with the 2014 New York City hatchet attack. Like them, the New York attacker was labelled as a "lone wolf," although Siegel writes that those who are moved from anger to spontaneous deadly action most often fit the profiles of borderline psychotics more than hardcore believers. He cites a 2010 study by terrorism analyst Brian Jenkins of the RAND Corporation, which states that it would be more appropriate to describe "lone wolves" as "stray dogs" which, ""while still dangerous, skulk about, sniffing at violence, vocally aggressive but skittish without backup."

An editorial in The Economist from November 8, 2014, in discussing the impact on US-Canada border security, said:

The attack in Ottawa last month by a lone gunman, who killed a Canadian soldier and stormed parliament, seems likely to make matters worse. Although there is still uncertainty about the motives of the gunman, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau—possibly a deranged outcast, possibly a religious extremist—the United States is reviewing security along the 5,525-mile (8,890km) line which separates the two countries (including the Alaskan land border).

Journalist Glenn Greenwald said that the Canadian government was exploiting the shootings by, wasting, "no time in seizing on the incident to promote its fear-mongering agenda over terrorism, which includes pending legislation to vest its intelligence agency, CSIS, with more spying and secrecy powers in the name of fighting ISIS." He also said that the shootings weren't an act of terrorism, writing that, "...  to the extent the term [terrorism] has any common understanding, it includes the deliberate (or wholly reckless) targeting of civilians with violence for political ends. But in this case in Canada, it wasn't civilians who were targeted. If one believes the government's accounts of the incident, the driver waited two hours until he saw a soldier in uniform. In other words, he seems to have deliberately avoided attacking civilians, and targeted a soldier instead – a member of a military that is currently fighting a war." Greenwald's opinion was in turn criticized by academic Daniel W. Drezner who said that his argument was both banal and incomplete, and that the reason why there was shock in Canada at the attack was that democracies at least claimed to adhere to jus in bello when they prosecuted violent conflicts, whereas some of their opponents did not.

Zehaf-Bibeau grew up in Eastern Canada, including Ottawa and Montreal. His mother is Susan Bibeau, a French-Canadian Quebecer from Montreal and deputy chairperson of a division of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board. His father is a businessman, Bulgasem Zehaf, a Libyan immigrant to Quebec who opened the Tripoli café in Montreal. Zehaf is reported to have fought in the 2011 Libyan Civil War; the Washington Times reported that Mr. Zehaf had returned to his hometown of Zawiyah in Libya to join the uprising against the Muammar Gaddafi regime. The couple split up before Zehaf-Bibeau's birth, but reconciled a short while after and were married. Zehaf and Bibeau divorced in 1999. After the divorce, Zehaf-Bibeau was removed from a private school with strict discipline and put in a secondary school known for pupils fighting with other students from local schools. Zehaf-Bibeau continued to live in the Montreal area until 2007, when he spent time in Libya before moving to Western Canada to become a miner and labourer.

Finally, Zehaf-Bibeau reached an alcove by the entrance to the Library of Parliament, and hid out of sight of RCMP officers, who ordered him to drop his gun and surrender. The location of the alcove is near the office of the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons, Kevin Vickers. Vickers, a distinguished policeman, commander and administrator with the RCMP before he joined the staff of the House of Commons in 2005, obtained a 9mm handgun from a lock-box and entered the hall. Vickers' security team, which had been chasing Zehaf-Bibeau, yelled to Vickers that the suspect was hiding in the alcove. Vickers immediately ran behind the other side of a nearby column, then dove past the column and fired upward at Zehaf-Bibeau. Witnesses and reports show RCMP Constable Curtis Barrett, leading the tactical formation, fired the shot that killed Zehaf-Bibeau after Bibeau fired in his direction. CBC television cameras on the scene recorded over 30 shots fired in the final gunfight. Footage showed a group of RCMP officers converging near the alcove; two loud gunshots are heard, then a large number of gunshots in rapid succession, then silence.

Baptized a Roman Catholic, he converted to Islam in 2004 and had attended Sunni Muslim mosques in the British Columbia cities of Burnaby and Vancouver. A mosque in Vancouver, British Columbia, expelled him. 'His behaviour was not normal,' said David Ali, vice-president of Masjid Al-Salaam mosque in nearby Burnaby. He said: 'We try to be open to everyone. But people on drugs don't behave normally.' Also, an acquaintance recalled that he had "erratic" behaviour, he had said "the devil is after him", and was requested to stop attending the mosque after upsetting religious elders. The acquaintance believed he was mentally ill.

Zehaf-Bibeau became a habitual offender with an extensive criminal record for several offences, including larceny, drug possession, and parole violations. He had received several criminal convictions, at least one of which resulted in a custodial sentence of 60 days' incarceration. In November 2001, just after his 19th birthday, he was convicted of possessing a false credit card and impaired driving. In 2004, he pleaded guilty to drug possession for marijuana and PCP. He failed to appear at the trial date in 2006, but appeared three years later to plead guilty to marijuana possession and was given a discharge. In 2011, he was charged with robbery and "uttering threats" in Vancouver, but only convicted of the lesser charge of uttering threats. He claimed that he committed the 2011 robbery so that he would be incarcerated, in order to kick his drug habit. He received a psychiatric evaluation, but was determined to be fit to stand for trial.

Zehaf-Bibeau arrived in Ottawa on or before October 2, ostensibly to pursue securing a passport. Zehaf-Bibeau had applied for a Canadian passport and a background check was in progress. RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said this issue was central in driving the attacks. Zehaf-Bibeau, who also had Libyan citizenship, applied for a Libyan passport renewal on October 2 and was refused the same day. Zehaf-Bibeau had received a Libyan passport in 2000 and then travelled to Libya in 2007. That document had expired, and Zehaf-Bibeau told officials that he wanted a new passport so he could visit family and friends in Libya.

According to court documents, he was born Joseph Paul Michael Bibeau, but, in 1995, his parents legally changed his name to Joseph Paul Michael Abdallah Bulgasem Zehaf-Bibeau to better reflect the other half of his heritage. Initial reports put out by Reuters and US-based networks in the first few hours after the shooting said the shooter was born 'Michael Joseph Hall' and changed his name after converting to Islam, but these proved unreliable and were contradicted the next day by Reuters, and the major Canadian news sources in in-depth reporting.

Corporal Nathan Frank Cirillo (December 23, 1989 – October 22, 2014), a 24-year-old Canadian soldier, was killed. He was a Class-A reservist of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada from Hamilton, Ontario. He was, as a chosen member of the Ceremonial Guard, on sentry duty at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial when he was shot. Although several civilians immediately provided assistance for the wounded reservist, Cirillo died in hospital later that morning. Cirillo had a standard issue Colt Canada C7 rifle which, in accordance with standard practice, was unloaded.

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau (October 16, 1982 – October 22, 2014) was identified by officials as the perpetrator of the shootings.