Valentine’s Day Mass Shooting Plot Foiled in Nova Scotia, Canada
A murder-suicide plot to open fire in public and kill a “large number of individual citizens” on Valentine’s Day was foiled, police in Nova Scotia, Canada said. Authorities said that they do not believe the thwarted attack was “linked to terrorism.”
A man found dead at a home in Halifax and a female American suspect had been planning to go to a “public venue” and carry out a massacre before killing themselves, police said.
“I am extremely pleased to report that this threat was averted,” Asst. Commissioner Brian Brennan told reporters late Friday.
The female suspect, a 23-year-old woman from Geneva, Illinois, was arrested at Halifax’s airport. She confessed to the plot and prewrote a number of pronouncements to be tweeted after her death, The Associated Press reported.
The 19-year-old male suspect shot himself to death after police were tipped off about the plot and surrounded his home in Timberlea at about 1:20 a.m. local time (12:20 a.m. ET) Friday.
Two other men, ages 17 and 20, were also involved but their role isn’t yet clear, police said. Authorities did not immediately identify any of the suspects.
“To be clear, all suspects are either dead or in custody,” Justice Minister Peter MacKay told reporters Saturday, according to Reuters. “The attack does not appear to have been culturally motivated — therefore not linked to terrorism,” MacKay said, adding that the four appear to be simply a “group of murderous misfits that were coming here, or living here, and were planning to wreak havoc and mayhem on our community.”
Nova Scotia premier Stephen McNeil said in a statement: “On behalf of all Nova Scotians, I thank our police officials, here and in the United States, for their quick and professional work. We are grateful for their dedication and vigilance.”