The RCMP said they were able to identify the person in the video as Driver by about 11 a.m.
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Aaron Driver died after detonating an explosive device in the backseat of a taxi as police closed in on him outside his property Police descended on Driver’s home after United States authorities alerted them that he planned to launch what could have been a “dreadful” attack, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said during a press conference.
A suspected ISIS sympathizer was killed in the southern Ontario town of Strathroy by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Wednesday night hours after RCMP warned a potential terrorist threat, according to CBC Thursday.
RCMP said earlier Wednesday that they had received credible information about a possible terror threat.
Driver was dead within hours of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation passing on a so-called “martyrdom video” in which Driver, wearing a black balaclava, declared war on Canada, swore allegiance to ISIS, and threatened “the spilling of blood” in Canada. He defended the earlier police monitoring of Driver, who was no longer under active surveillance, saying that when people are determined to carry out an attack “there are no conditions that can be put in place that will prevent them from taking action”.
Assistant Commissioner Jennifer Strachan went over the timeline of the police encounter.
Corrections & Amplifications: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said Aaron Driver was killed in a confrontation with Canadian police. Police swooped down on the home where Driver lived with his sister just before a taxi showed up and he got in.
It’s not clear yet how Driver died.
“They had it coming for them; they deserved it”.
As the officers confronted the suspect, an improvised explosive device suddenly detonated, injuring the cabbie.
An SFU terrorism expert says the RCMP and CSIS are limited in their powers when dealing with potential terrorists.
On October 20, a 25-year-old Muslim convert ran down two soldiers in a parking lot in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Montreal, before being shot dead by police.
Amarnath Amarasingam, a researcher at Dalhousie University who studies the paths individuals take towards extremism, said on Twitter that he had received an email from Driver on April 17 that expressed his satisfaction with his life.
The country saw a large increase in terrorism offences a year ago – 173, versus 76 in 2014, according police information reported by Statistics Canada in July. He was kept in police custody on suspicion that he may have ties to a terrorist group, though no charges were ever laid against him. At the time, the bail conditions drew criticism from the Manitoba Association of Rights and Liberties.
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.
Irene Lee, whose parents own a convenience store near Driver’s home, said police arrived on the quiet residential street shortly after 4 pm ET (2000 GMT) and quickly surrounded the house.
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June 26, 2015: Driver is back in custody after his landlord withdraws as his surety and requests that he move to a Muslim home to so he can be better educated in that religion.
