Martin Rouleau, the Canadian hit-and-run attack suspect who plowed down two military soldiers near Montreal this week, had become radicalized ahead of the apparent terror assault, authorities said Tuesday.
Roleau, a 25-year-old Muslim convert, was "clearly linked to terrorist ideology,"
Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney told The Associated Press.
One of the soldiers struck by Roleau's vehicle on Monday later died from his injuries, while the other remains in critical condition. Roleau was shot dead by police following a car chase, according to the AP.
"I heard [police] shout several times, 'Get out of the car, get out of the car and
raise your hands,'" a witness told the Toronto Sun of the final moments of the police standoff with Roleau. "The man got out and charged towards the policewoman. Then that's when we heard seven gunshots, then the man was on the ground."
Rouleau was reportedly a known radical who converted to Islam a year ago, the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.
"This individual was known to federal authorities, including our integrated national security investigations team in Montreal who, along with other authorities, were concerned that he had become radicalized," the statement read.
The Rouleau hit-and-run attack was similar to last year's incident in London where an al-Qaida-inspired extremist and another man ran over a soldier and then beheaded him with a meat cleaver. The suspects, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, were given life sentences in February for the brutal and bloody hacking of Fusilier Lee Rigby in
May 2013, the Daily Mail reported.
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