Parti Quebecois Victory Marred By Shooting In Montreal

By Ryan Villarreal | September 05 2012 11:01 AM

As Quebec's newly elected premier and leader of the Parti Quebecois Pauline Marois delivered a victory speech to supporters in a concert hall in Montreal Tuesday, a gunman in a ski-mask and bathrobe entered the building and discharged his assault rifle, killing one man and injuring another.

REUTERS

Parti Quebecois leader and newly elected Premier of Quebec Pauline Marois speaks with her security after being whisked off-stage due to a shooting in the venue during her election celebration in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Sponsorship Link

"The English are waking up!" the shooter, identified only as a 62-year-old man, was reportedly yelling in French, indicating opposition to the policies of the Parti Quebecois, which favor independence for French-speaking Quebec from Canada.

Given that the PQ only won a minority in the legislature, it is unlikely that it will attempt to hold a referendum on independence.

The shooting took place near a back entrance to the building, away from the main auditorium where Marois was speaking. Police said they believed the gunman acted alone.

"At this stage in the investigation, there is nothing to indicate any accomplices or other persons implicated," Montreal Police spokesman Ian Lafreniere told the Vancouver Sun.

The last such occurrence of a politically-motivated killing in Canada occurred in 1970, when a group of radical Quebec nationalists kidnapped provincial Labor Minister Pierre Laporte and a British diplomat, later strangling Laporte to death.