Quebec: at least two dead in stabbing attacks

In the night of Saturday October 31 to Sunday 1^is November, in the old town of Quebec (Canada), two people were killed and five others wounded during attacks with knives. A suspect, “an elderly man in his mid-twenties” was arrested, said Étienne Doyon, spokesperson for the Quebec City Police Service (SPVQ) during a press briefing, without specifying the reasons for these assaults that occurred during Halloween night.

The suspect has been formally identified, but the police have not released his identity. He was “arrested shortly before 1 am”, after a manhunt, and “transported to a hospital to be evaluated”, he added. “It is a man who was dressed in [tenue] medieval. He is a man who carried a sword with him, ”added the spokesperson. During his arrest in the Old Port, the man, born in 1996 according to the Quebec newspaper The sun, was lying on the ground, barefoot and hypothermic. He surrendered to the police without offering resistance, according to the newspaper, which specifies that the suspect would have planned his gesture for a year and a half.

A report around 10:30 p.m.

According to three witnesses cited by The sun, the assailant allegedly “slaughtered” his first victim near the Château Frontenac and there was “a lot of blood”. The man then continued his journey on rue des Remparts, where the second person was killed, before going to the Old Port, causing other injuries, according to the newspaper. The police did not give details on the identity or the age of the victims, specifying only that the nature of the injuries is “variable”

The police received a call to report Saturday evening around 10:30 pm reporting “multiple armed attacks” occurring “in the area of ​​Old Quebec,” said Étienne Doyon. The SPVQ then “deployed several police officers on the ground”, including patrollers and dog handlers in search of the assailant. The police opened an investigation and asked the inhabitants to “stay inside” for the night, while several districts were cordoned off by an imposing police device. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the streets of Old Quebec were very uncrowded at the time of the tragedy, testified to Agence France-Presse Jordan Proust, freelance journalist.