RCMP had suspect on their radar for months Police, family had no idea 25-year-old’s anger would explode into fatal attack OTTAWA— Martin Couture-Rouleau, the self-radicalized suspect behind the hitand-run ambush that killed a Canadian soldier, was under RCMP watch as a potential security threat for nearly five months, had his passport yanked and had met with police as recently as Oct. 9. But the RCMP, family and friends say although he had become angry and extremist in his views, Couture-Rouleau gave no sign he was preparing an attack. A clearer and chilling portrait emerged Tuesday with reports of the 25-year-old man who one friend said converted up to five of his friends to Islam but failed to persuade them to join his jihad. The terror suspect was fatally shot Monday by police following a brief highspeed car chase. Quebec provincial police say he had parked his car near a centre that offers services to military personnel, and waited for nearly two hours before accelerating his Nissan Altima and running into two soldiers, one of whom was in uniform. Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent died of his injuries early Tuesday. He was praised by Prime Minister Stephen Harper for 28 years of military service, including time as a firefighter, that took him across the country. Harper pledged the full support of the federal government to help authorities to get to the bottom of what he branded a “terrible act.” Yet the RCMP defended its actions Tuesday, saying no one foresaw it. In brief comments to the TVA network Tuesday, his father, Gilles Rouleau, said he had seen his son that same morning and Couture-Rouleau gave no indication of his terrible plan. “If I had the feeling that there was a danger I would have tried to stop it,” he told the French-language broadcaster. RCMP Supt. Martine Fontaine told reporters even if Couture-Rouleau had been under constant surveillance, it’s not a crime to sit in a parking lot. “We didn’t know his intention to use his car as a weapon,” he said. “We met with him for quite a long time on Oct. 9 and no time did he indicate such an intention. On the contrary he said he wanted to perhaps take steps to change things in his life.” Couture-Rouleau, father of a young son, had converted to Islam sometime more than a year ago after his power-washing business faltered, friends said. Though they described him as a caring father, Couture-Rouleau had long ago separated from his child’s mother. Radio-Canada reported that Couture-Rouleau had offered to pay his friends’ way to fly to Afghanistan; however, the friend said they could no longer accept his growing radicalization. They cut ties with someone they had known as “Big Mart,” a man who once enjoyed parties, time with friends and body-building. His extremist Facebook postings showed he was considering travelling abroad, and raised a red flag to the Mounties in June. His family had detected a change for the worse in his behaviour, too, and reached out to the RCMP for help. In July, the RCMP arrested Couture-Rouleau as he was planning to travel to Turkey — a frequent jumping off point for ISIL sympathizers to head into Syria or Iraq to join the battle. Identified as a high-risk traveller, he was questioned about his motivations for making the trip. But the Mounties did not charge him after consulting prosecutors because they lacked enough evidence of a criminal intent to travel abroad to join a terrorist group or participate in terrorist activity “and there was no real indication he was going to commit a crime in Canada,” Fontaine said. Commissioner Bob Paulson said the RCMP “seized” his passport and speculated Rouleau may have been frustrated and more dangerous because his travel plan was thwarted. But Fontaine said there was no evidence of a direct link yet. “We worked with him, with the imam in the mosque he was attending and with police officers that are part of our community service to try and exert a positive influence over him,” Fontaine told a news conference. “Many interventions with Mr. Martin Rouleau were carried out to try and avoid, in vain unfortunately, the tragic events in Saint-Jean.” As of two weeks ago, the Mounties believed, mistakenly, that Couture-Rouleau was on a different path. “The meeting ended on a very positive note so we had not reason to believe after that he would commit a criminal act.” Paulson acknowledged Couture-Rouleau was among the 90 individuals under active RCMP surveillance that he had referred to at a parliamentary committee two weeks ago. He said now the RCMP is concerned about the “breadth and reach” of Couture-Rouleau’s influence within his own circle of friends, and whether any sympathizers might be inclined to act as he did. “We don’t suspect that, but we’re open to that and we’re concerned about that so we’re going to pursuing every investigative avenue to satisfy ourselves that we’ve eliminated that possibility.” Still, the RCMP is now on the defensive about how a man in the crosshairs of security officials could carry out a deadly attack. Fontaine outlined what she said were the difficulties. “We worked with him, with the imam in the mosque he was attending and with police officers . . . to try and exert a positive influence over him.” RCMP SUPT. MARTINE FONTAINE ON THE MAN WHO ALLEGEDLY KILLED A CANADIAN SOLDIER “We work with the tools that we have and we work with the people that (were) close to him and people that could influence him,” said Fontaine. “It’s difficult to do more because we could not arrest someone for having radical thoughts. It’s not a crime in Canada. Unless we have clear indications of what he was doing, it was very difficult to prevent.” According to one of Couture-Rouleau’s friends, he became angry, despondent and buried himself in the Internet after his cleaning business stumbled. He identified himself on Facebook as “Ahmad Rouleau” and on Twitter as “Abu Ibrahim AlCanadi.” On yet another social media site for Muslims, a user named Ahmad Rouleau posted a picture of someone wearing a jihadi scarf wrapped around his face and displaying the Qur’an. Another friend of 10 years said: “He was devoted to his son, always playing with him and giving him all his attention. He was the most cultivated friend I had. In politics as well as in economic matters, Martin taught me a lot.” “I’ll remember the Big Mart, the good old boy and forget this stuff that he did,” a friend wrote in tribute on his Facebook page Tuesday. “Hopefully he will be reconverted up there when he comes to his senses.” The incident garnered attention overseas Tuesday, where a purported ISIS fighter from Canada who uses the Twitter handle Abu Khalid Al-Kanadi praised Rouleau’s actions. “Muslims in Canada, follow the footsteps of our brave brother Martin Rouleau who took revenge for Canadian military aggression in our lands,” Al-Kanadi wrote Tuesday.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 14:19:51 +0000
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