2012 Montreal shooting
| 2012 Montreal shooting | |
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Caution tape and policemen at Saint Catherine Street in front of the Métropolis building, after the shooting.
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| Location | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Date | September 4, 2012 (UTC-4) |
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Attack type
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Shooting, arson |
| Weapons | |
| Deaths | 1 |
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Non-fatal injuries
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1 |
| Perpetrator | Richard Henry Bain |
On the night of September 4, 2012, the Parti Québécois won the Quebec general election, with a minority government. Party leader Pauline Marois was partway through her victory speech to her supporters, gathered at the Métropolis in downtown Montreal, when a masked man approached the building and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle, killing one stage technician and injuring another. The man then attempted to set fire to the building, but was quickly tackled and apprehended by Montreal police, in a nearby alley.
A man named Richard Henry Bain was identified as the suspect in the shooting. In 2016, Bain was convicted of second-degree murder.
A heavyset man wearing a blue bathrobe and black balaclava approached the back door of the Métropolis theatre with a 9mm Luger P08 semiautomatic pistol and a Česká Zbrojovka-858 semiautomatic rifle. Initial eyewitness reports claimed the rifle was an AK-47 assault rifle, which is similar in appearance to the semiautomatic CZ-858. The man opened fire, killing Denis Blanchette, a 48-year-old male stage technician. His 27-year-old colleague, Dave Courage, was critically wounded.
Marois was whisked away from the stage without harm by her bodyguards, and the suspect was apprehended and arrested, shortly after he had started a fire at the back entrance of the building. While being led to the police vehicle during his arrest, the suspect infamously called out "The English are waking up!" and "It's going to be fucking payback." Although in 2012 it was reported the shooter used a Molotov cocktail, it was later alleged he poured gasoline on a door and ignited it with a road flare. Several families living in the area had to be evacuated out of their homes due to the fire, which was quickly doused. The Sûreté du Québec announced that the shooting would be investigated as a potential attempted assassination on Marois, the then-premier-designate.
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