Denis Lortie
| Denis Lortie | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 10, 1959 Ontario |
| Occupation | Military Supply Technician |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment with no parole for ten years. |
| Criminal status | Full parole in 1996 |
| Motive | Anger over the Parti Quebecois's advocating of a Francophone identity for Quebec, as well as alleged mental illness. |
| Conviction(s) | Second-degree murder in 1987 |
| Killings | |
| Date | May 8, 1984 |
| Location(s) | National Assembly of Quebec, Quebec City, Canada |
| Target(s) | Premier René Lévesque, and other members of the governing Parti Quebecois. |
| Killed | 3 |
| Injured | 13 |
| Weapons |
|
| Denis Lortie | |
|---|---|
| Allegiance |
 Canada
|
| Service/branch |
Canadian Forces (Logistics Branch) |
| Years of service | ? - 1984 |
| Rank | Corporal |
| Unit | Royal 22e Régiment |
| Spouse(s) |
|
| Relations | 2 children (son and daughter) |
| Other work | Convenience store clerk (after release) |
Denis Lortie (born March 10, 1959) is a former Canadian Forces corporal. In 1984, he stormed into the National Assembly of Quebec building and opened fire with several firearms, killing three Quebec government employees and wounding 13 others. The National Assembly's Sergeant-at-Arms, René Jalbert, volunteered himself to serve as a hostage, and conversed with Lortie for several hours before convincing him to surrender to authorities. After a 1985 conviction of first-degree murder was overturned by the Quebec Court of Appeal, Lortie pleaded guilty to reduced charges of second-degree murder in 1987, for which he was convicted to life imprisonment with no parole for ten years. Lortie was granted day parole in 1995, then full parole in 1996, and has since kept a low profile.
Joseph Laurent Paul Denis Lortie was born in Quebec, the youngest son of eight children, all of whom were physically and sexually abused by his father. Lortie's father reportedly fathered a child with one of his daughters. One of them finally went to the police and in 1969, Lortie's father was sentenced to three years in prison. Upon his release he did not return to his family.
Lortie joined the army and was stationed in Halifax, where he met and married Lisa Levesque in 1980. The couple had a son in 1982 and a daughter in 1983.
At the time of the shooting, Lortie was stationed in CFS Carp, near Ottawa, was ranked a corporal, and worked as a supply technician in the Canadian Forces Logistics Branch.
Lortie was bilingual, but his English was relatively poor, and even when speaking French (his native language), he encountered pronunciation difficulties, resulting in irregular and halting speech. Lortie blamed his social and professional failures on his inability to speak English flawlessly, and was keenly aware that his poor English reinforced negative stereotypes of Francophones and Québécois. After the birth of his daughter, Lortie worried that he would become abusive in the manner of his father, and contemplated killing himself and his family before placing blame on the governing pro-sovereignty Parti Quebecois for his problems (disliking the party's advocation of a "Francophone identity" for Quebec). Lortie planned the killing spree as a means of broadcasting his discontent.
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Wikipedia