OTTAWA, Ontario // The mother of a man accused of killing a soldier at Ottawa’s war memorial then storming parliament before being shot dead said she was crying for the victims of the shooting, not her son.
In a brief and tear-filled telephone interview on Thursday, Susan Bibeau said she did not know what to say to those hurt in the attack.
“Can you ever explain something like this?” she said. “We are sorry.”
Investigators offered little information about the gunman in Ottawa, identified as 32-year-old petty criminal Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.
Canadian police conceded that Zehaf-Bibeau was the lone gunman, the second attack in three days in what Prime Minister Stephen Harper described as terrorism.
A man Mr Harper described as an “ISIL-inspired terrorist” on Monday ran over two soldiers in a parking lot in Quebec, killing one and injuring another before being shot to death by police. Like the suspect from Wednesday’s shooting in Ottawa, he was a recent convert to Islam.
Zehaf-Bibeau’s parents expressed horror at what happened.
“I am mad at my son,” she said, explaining that he seemed lost and “did not fit in”.
“I, his mother, spoke with him last week over lunch, I had not seen him for over five years before that,” she said. “So I have very little insight to offer.”
The heart of the capital city of Ottawa had been in lockdown after Wednesday’s attack, as fears mounted that other gunmen might be on the loose.
Ottawa police constable Marc Soucy confirmed that police are satisfied there was only one attacker. Ottawa police chief Charles Bordeleau said that “there is no longer a threat to public safety”.
The two attacks stunned Canadians and raised concerns their country was being targeted for reprisals for joining the US-led air campaign against the extremist ISIL group in Iraq and Syria.
Canada’s parliament reopened on Thursday and gave a hero’s welcome to Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vicker, who a day earlier had put aside his ceremonial duties to shoot and kill the gunman outside the MPs’ caucus rooms.
Applause rang out for the guardian of the 58-year-old, followed by a prayer, the national anthem, a moment of silence and a brief statement by the prime minister.
Mr Harper and his wife Laureen laid a wreath on Thursday at the National War Memorial where the soldier was killed.
Witnesses said the soldier posted at the National War Memorial, identified as Corporal Nathan Cirillo, was gunned down at point-blank range by a man carrying a rifle and dressed all in black, his face half-covered with a scarf.
The gunman appeared to raise his arms in triumph, then entered parliament where dozens of shots soon rang out, according to witnesses.
Court records that appear to be the gunman’s show that he had a long rap sheet, with a string of convictions for assault, robbery, drug and weapons offenses, and other crimes.
* Associated Press
