Suspect In Canada's Parliament Shooting Said 'The Devil Was After Him'
The suspect involved in a shooting at Canada's Parliament building on Wednesday has reportedly told authorities that he believed "the devil was after him."
According to Canadian media outlets, the gunman who shot at a soldier at the country's National War Memorial in Ottawa and then proceeded to open fire in the Parliament building, near where Prime Minister Stephen Harper was speaking, has been identified as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.
Zehaf-Bibeau was reportedly on the country's terrorist watch list and had his passport confiscated to prevent him from traveling to Syria or Iraq to join the Islamic State terror group, as other foreign jihadists have been doing lately.
The suspect was fatally shot on Wednesday after his parliament ambush by Sgt. at Arms Kevin Vickers, the 58-year-old head of security at Canada's House of Commons. Since his death, disturbing information about Zehaf-Bibeau has been released to the media.
A family friend, Dave Bathurst, told Canada's CBC media outlet that although he did not necessarily see signs of extremism in the 32-year-old suspect, he did possibly see sign of mental illness from a younger age.
"We were having a conversation in a kitchen, and I don't know how he worded it - he said the devil is after him," Bathurst recalled of Zehaf-Bibeau.
The suspect also reportedly talked about being haunted by the Arabic word for 'devil.' "I think he must have been mentally ill," Bathurst added.
Wednesday's tragic shooting left one Canadian soldier, who had been standing guard at the National War Memorial, dead of fatal gunshot wounds. The Parliament building and surround areas remained on lockdown for a large part of Wednesday as police and special forces conducted sweeps of the area.
