Police across the country say they were made aware of a terror threat investigation earlier in the previous day, but noted that it had no specifics attached.
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A 24-year-old man who had been under a peace bond for being an ISIS sympathizer was killed Wednesday night by police responding to what they say was “a potential terrorist threat” in the small southern Ontario town of Strathroy.
They said a suspect was identified and the “proper course of action has been taken” to ensure there was no danger to public safety.
The potential target has not been issued.
A perimeter was set up and police advised residents to stay indoors.
After Mr. Driver’s arrest in June, 2015, Mounties applied for a peace bond that could impose limits on his activities, alleging in provincial court documents that investigators believed he might help terrorist groups.When Mr. Driver was released later that month, he was ordered to comply with 18 different conditions, according to The Canadian Press.
Amarnath Amarasingam, a post-doctoral fellow at Dalhousie University who studies radicalization and terrorism, maintained in 2015 that Driver had posted for several months on social media about disliking Canada and about a desire to move overseas.
“There is no threat to public safety”.
RCMP are expected to hold a news conference Thursday to give more information about a takedown that resulted in the death of a man in Strathroy suspected of an alleged terrorist plot.
Len Tailleur, Mr. Driver’s former lawyer, said he was “aghast and shocked” to learn of Wednesday’s events.
At about that time, she said she was at her home close by when she heard a loud noise.
“These agencies conducted themselves effectively in the circumstances that developed today”, Goodale said in statement. She said Driver regularly goes to her parents’ nearby convenience store to buy energy drinks.
He said the RCMP, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and other police and security agencies were involved in the operation.
Despite the threat, Goodale said the terror threat level for Canada remained at medium, unchanged since the fall of 2014. Shortly after 10 p.m., police asked residents in buildings and houses inside the secure perimeter to leave their homes.
Lee said there were up to 25 marked and unmarked cruisers outside Driver’s Park Street residence all Wednesday evening.
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– With files from Daniela Germano and Paola Lorrigio.
