A police officer walks near where a man killed two people in Quebec early Sunday morning.Jacques Boissinot / AP
The police of Quebec City - the capital of the Canadian province of the same name - arrested this Sunday the alleged perpetrator of an attack with a knife that left two dead and five wounded.
The events took place in the walled area of this famous city in Canada, in the middle of Halloween night.
At a press conference, Robert Pigeon, director of the Quebec City Police Service, stated that the man, who has no criminal record, wore medieval-style clothing and carried a saber.
He was arrested shortly before after midnight on a street in the old port.
Everything indicates, Pigeon maintained, that the suspect acted alone, chose his victims at random and does not belong to a terrorist group.
However, he had already expressed his intention to carry out an attack “just over five years ago and in a medical context”.
The authorities indicated that they received the first emergency call at 10.40 p.m.
The agents reached an area near the famous Castle of Frontenac, where they found that one person had died from stab wounds.
The second fatality was found a few streets further north.
The Quebec City Police Service released their names and ages this afternoon: Suzanne Clermont (61 years old) and François Duchesne (56), both residents of this city.
The person responsible injured five other people who were transferred to a hospital.
A security agent from the old port alerted police to the suspect's presence in the area.
The individual did not resist when he was arrested.
Robert Pigeon said that the detainee's vehicle was found a few steps from the site of the first attack.
Radio-Canada
confirmed this noon that the detainee is Carl Girouard, 24 years old, and from a suburb of Montreal.
The public broadcaster also reported that the police conducted a search of Girouard's apartment a few hours after his arrest.
Investigators also collected evidence in the various settings of this tragedy.
This afternoon, Girouard heard the charges against him at the Quebec Palace of Justice: two counts of murder in the first degree and five of attempted murder.
At the same press conference, Régis Labeaume, mayor of Quebec, said that he had the impression of participating in an “old movie”, referring to the attack on the mosque in this city on January 29, 2017, which left six dead and 19 injured.
The person responsible, Alexandre Bissonnette, was sentenced to life imprisonment.
"Quebec City will take all necessary actions to protect our citizens and help them overcome the possible consequences of this event," he declared.
François Legault, Québec Prime Minister, posted on Twitter: “The province of Quebec wakes up after a night of horror.
Words fail me to describe a tragedy of this kind.
I offer all my condolences to the families of the victims ”.
For his part, Justin Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister, wrote on the same social network: “Terrible tragedy in Quebec.
I am heartbroken for the relatives of the two people killed in this horrible attack.
I hope that the injured will reestablish themselves soon ”.