Quebec Sword Attack Suspect Spoke of Similar Crime Five Years Ago: Police

Two people are dead and five injured after a man dressed in a medieval costume walked around Quebec City Saturday night—on Halloween—sabre in hand, “with the intention of doing the most damage possible,” police say. 

The incident took place about five years after the suspect, now in custody, was “in a medical context” and allegedly said he had plans to carry out a similar attack, Quebec City Police Chief Robert Pigeon told reporters on Sunday. 

Police were first called to the scene around 10:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, after the suspect stopped a running car at the historic Chateau Frontenac hotel, one of Quebec City’s most famous landmarks. Gas cans and a sword holster were later found inside the vehicle. 

Three women found one victim lying on the ground near the hotel as the suspect made his way through the historic quarter of the city and allegedly attacked more people, Quebec newspaper Le Soleil reported. Police officers later discovered more victims in at least three other places.

According to the Montreal Gazette, witness Ariane Genest decided to have a cigarette outside of her home a few hundred metres away from the Chateau Frontenac, on Parloir St. She recalled how police were running through the streets, screaming at people to stay indoors. 

“I was freaking out,” Genest told the Gazette. 

Genest told the newspaper she sprinted back indoors, locked her apartment, grabbed a knife, and waited in fear as police continued their search for the suspect. 

“It’s like surreal, to think that it’s happening here, in Quebec,” Genest said. 

After 2.5 hours of searching and the deployment of several officers, patrol cars, two tactical units, and canine squads, police found the suspect at the city’s waterfront, about a kilometre from the old port, shortly before 1 a.m. He was lying on the ground, barefoot, and hypothermic, and didn’t resist arrest, reported Le Soleil. 

Carl Girouard, of Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder on Sunday afternoon after appearing in court via video conference. 

Pigeon told reporters early Sunday the attacks, while premeditated, were random.

There are no signs of terrorism, ethnic or religious extremism at this time, Pigeon said. 

Pigeon said the suspect was first taken to hospital for evaluation, but didn’t offer additional information about the suspect’s condition. Girouard didn’t have a criminal record.

Police confirmed the two victims killed were 56-year-old François Duchesne and 61-year-old Suzanne Clermont, both Quebec City residents. 

Clermont was a hairdresser at Salon Les Z'ongles and Duchesne was the director of communications for the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, CBC News reported.

The attack that killed Clermont allegedly took place just outside her front door; she often stepped out to smoke before going to sleep, reported the CBC. 

Duchesne died near the Chateau Frontenac while out for a run, according to the public broadcaster. 

“The cultural community is shaken to learn of the death of François Duchesne,” tweeted Quebec’s Minister of Culture, Nathalie Roy. 

Police are now investigating 25 potential crime scenes, including Girouard’s residence and spots in Quebec City that were spattered with blood on Saturday night. Pigeon said he doesn’t foresee anymore deaths, even though the five injured victims sustained significant lacerations. 

All seven of the victims had been living in Quebec City and two are French nationals. 

The identities of the living victims are covered under a publication ban, CBC reported.

The attack has renewed calls for better mental health support and funding.

“Mental health issues are the biggest safety concerns in major Canadian cities for decades to come,” said Quebec City’s Mayor Régis Labeaume, who is calling for a National Assembly debate on mental health.

Psychologist Christine Grou told the Gazette that a number of factors can influence how someone lives through and reacts to extreme mental health struggles, including past and untreated trauma, social exclusion, poverty, and triggering events like breakups—or the ongoing pandemic. 

Mathieu Dufour, a forensic psychiatrist and associate chief of the department of psychiatry at l'Institut national de psychiatrie légale Philippe-Pinel, told the newspaper, “Most people with mental illnesses are not violent and they are much more often victims of crime than perpetrators.” 

Follow Anya Zoledziowski on Twitter.