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 USA 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.
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The RCMP said terror suspect Aaron Driver (pictured, in a video obtained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and RCMP) entered a taxi before being killed during a confrontation with police in Strathroy.
In what Canadian authorities called a “race against time”, they intercepted the suspect, later identified as 24-year-old Aaron Driver, as he was entering a taxi cab with a backpack on. Police said it wasn’t immediately clear whether Mr. Driver died as a result of the explosion or being shot by police.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police shot dead an Islamic State sympathizer who authorities believe was planning to carry out a suicide attack that could have caused mass casualties.
The warning was Canada-wide and made no mention of a specific city, said RCMP assistant commissioner Jennifer Strachan, who praised investigators for identifying Driver quickly enough to prevent him from carrying out the attack.
“We can confirm a police operation took place in Strathroy yesterday, where a suspect was fatally shot by our officers”, RCMP spokeswoman Annie Delisle said in an email.
In the video, aired during the news conference, a masked Driver addresses the camera directly as he rails against western “enemies of Islam” and warns that the only solution would be the “spilling of your blood”.
They included two members of the Islamic State group, a British youth arrested for his involvement in a terror plot targeting Australia, and Elton Simpson – one of two Americans who launched an attack on a Texas exhibition of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed past year.
He gave a media interview where he expressed support for prior terror attacks in Canada and expressed interest in travelling to join the Islamic State.
Over the past year, police have increasingly used the tool against people suspected of supporting or participating in terror groups, instead of laying formal charges. Police swooped down on the home just before a taxi suddenly showed up and Driver got in.
Canada’s Public Safety Minister, Ralph Goodale, said he discussed the actions taken by police with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Notably, security was beefed up along Toronto’s network of subways, bus lines and street cars used by 1.8 million people a day.
Aaron was arrested past year amid an investigation developed in Winnipeg.
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.
“We actively engaged relevant Canadian law enforcement and security agencies, asking them to exercise an increased level of vigilance and to be on the lookout for anything that appeared somewhat suspicious”, Cabana said.
Police said Thursday that an earlier court requirement that Mr. Driver wear an electronic monitoring device tracking his movements had been lifted.
A Canadian man banned from associating with Islamic State extremists has been killed as Canada’s national police force said it thwarted what was believed to be a suicide bomb plot.
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A spokeswoman at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Canada’s spy agency, declined to comment on the incident, referring all queries to the RCMP. He had also said the Parliament Hill attack by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau was justified.
