by BRIANNA SICILIANO\ Social Media Coordinator
Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a Jihadist Muslim, murdered a Canadian soldier and injured two civilians on October 22, before firing a rifle multiple times in Canada’s parliament building. He was eventually shot and killed by Canadian authorities.
Canada is a country known for its peace, liberty, enterprise, and hard work. In the news, we hardly ever hear of any crimes happening in Canada, especially not in its parliament building.
Just two days before the attack in Ottawa, a man described as an “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant-inspired terrorist” ran over two soldiers in a Quebec parking lot, killing one and injuring the other, before police shot him to death. The man was being watched by Canadian authorities, who became suspicious and fearful when the man tried to travel to Turkey. Canadian authorities seized his passport, keeping the man from his travels, but unfortunately, the criminal did not die without stirring up a lot of fear and worrying.
Unlike the attacker in the Quebec case, Zehaf-Bibeau was not under authorities’ surveillance. Zehaf-Bibeau, whose father was from Libya and mother from Canada, may have lashed out in anger and frustration because of his passport’s delay. Zehaf-Bibeau’s mother has told police that her son wanted to go to Syria.
There is every reason to be suspicious of a Jihadist wanting to travel to Syria. While he could have claimed it was to study the culture or just travel, it would be silly to disqualify the possibility of him wanting to join a terrorist group there.
“It is pretty ironic that both of these murderers acted out because they could not fly to their desired countries. If they did have their passports, and they did fly to Turkey and Syria, what would they have done? Would they have done whatever they could do to support ISIS?” asked senior Shivam Patel.
Zehaf-Bibeau killed Corporal Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial, and then made his way to the parliament building to fire his rifle at the entrance and run down the Hall of Honor. He passed a room where Canada’s Prime Minister was in a meeting, and passed a room that was occupied by politicians. He shot at both doors as he passed.
Sergeant Kevin Vickers risked his life by confronting Zehaf-Bibeau alone and shooting him, and soon after his shots, his security team joined the scene and fired some shots of their own. Zehaf-Bibeau was killed at the scene.
“A lot of people are calling Michael Zehaf-Bibeau a criminal and not a terrorist, but I disagree. I think his motives were terrorism. He killed a soldier, but intended on killing more people. His intentions were not to ruin any ordinary home, life, or building, but to end a soldier’s life, scare the country of Canada, and harm people who could be found in Canada’s parliament building. This act was intended to be much more than the murder of a soldier, unfortunately,” said senior Hiral Patel.
The attacks on Ottawa and Quebec happened during the same week that Canada deployed additional planes to the Middle East, with hopes of taking part in a campaign of air strikes against Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Iraq.
Do you think Zehaf-Bibeau acted in terrorism, or just a terrible crime? Do you think that the two events happening so close together is a coincidence, or was it intentional? Share your comments below!