Aaron Driver, 24, was killed during a possible terror threat, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
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“Obviously it was a race against time”, said RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mike Cabana at a news conference Thursday.
He was arrested in June of previous year in Winnipeg due to concerns about his activities online. He was arrested after being accused of supporting ISIS.
Driver was described in media reports as a Muslim convert with a troubled childhood who became radicalised on the internet.
Regarding the previous case, he said police had meant to charge Driver with terrorism threats based on his social media postings, but Driver and police reached a peace bond settlement allowing the RCMP to monitor Driver for up to a year.
Driver was ordered to wear a Global Positioning System tracking device and banned from going online or communicating with ISIL.
“It’s important we separate his abhorrent views from the way he has been treated, and the way the government has deprived him of his rights”, said Manitoba Association of Rights and Liberties president Corey Shefman in 2015. “We had distributed his picture to a number of people, and several individuals, unconnected to each other, instantly recognized him, said he was living here with a sibling”. “That, frankly, is outrageous”. “There is no threat to public safety”.
February 2: Driver’s lawyer and the Crown agree to a peace bond ensuring Driver will not go to trial.
Under the peace bond agreed to by both sides, there was an acknowledgment there were grounds to fear that Driver might help a terrorist group. Driver is released on bail but is no longer required to undergo “religious counselling” or adhere to a curfew. Driver is not required to wear a Global Positioning System monitoring bracelet but is prohibited from using a computer or cellphone until the end of August.
A source familiar with ISIS telegram channels told VICE News that there has been no chatter about Driver since his death, and there was very little else on Twitter among ISIS supporters. His father was a member of the Canadian military, and his mother died when he was seven years old. Neighbours told the CBC he rarely went outside, though they also didn’t think he was unusual or a bad person.
It would have triggered a first explosive device that would have wounded and another person, and that’s when he was about to operate a second vehicle that police allegedly shot and killed, reported the public broadcaster. Driver takes up residence in Strathroy, Ont., where he reportedly has family.
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The incident occurred as the police raised a residential address in the southwestern Ontario neighbourhood of Strathroy after receiving “credible information of a potential terrorist act” earlier in the day. “With respect to the police and security actions taken in Canada today, I have discussed the situation with the Prime Minister to confirm that public safety has been and continues to be properly protected”, Goodale said in a statement.
