Metropolis attack: threats came from social networks

Four of the six threats against Pauline Marois on the day of the Metropolis attack came from the internet, it was revealed to the court on Monday.

• Read also: Metropolis attack: the SQ finds nothing on the threats against Ms. Marois

• Read also: Metropolis attack: the Sûreté du Québec will have to carry out its research

“Two threats came from 14-year-olds,” said judge Philippe Bélanger.

This information, the details of which have not yet been disclosed, comes from several weeks of research by the Sûreté du Québec in the context of a civil trial highlighting the actions of the police during the election night of September 4, 2012 in Metropolis. That evening, Richard Henry Bain showed up armed in the back parking lot of the building where Ms. Marois was making her victory speech.

Firing a single shot before his gun jammed, he had killed stage technician Denis Blanchette and wounded Dave Courage, only to start a fire.

For four colleagues of the victims traumatized by the event, it was inconceivable that neither the SQ nor the Montreal police were monitoring this part of the scene, so much so that they filed a civil suit for $600,000 against the police forces.

During this civil trial, we learned that on the day of the attack, the police had noted six threats against Ms. Marois. However, no policeman was able to identify them. The judge thus ordered that the light be shed, and after weeks of fruitless research 10 years after the attack, the SQ finally seems to have succeeded in finding the information.

Internet threats

We learned that two of the threats came from Twitter, while two others from Facebook. The other two have not been disclosed, and should be by the end of the month.

And one of them had to be quite serious, since the police had conducted a search of a suspect.

“The Montreal police have met one of the people,” added the magistrate.

With this new information in hand, Me Virginie Dufresne-Lemire, who represents the technicians, requested additional information, namely confirmation of a search and, if so, the court documents which made it possible to justify police intervention.

The parties will return to court at the end of the month for further proceedings.