Ottawa Gunman Identified As Michael Zehaf-Bibeau

Ottawa Gunman Identified

The gunman in a fatal shooting that rocked Ottawa on Wendesday has been identified.

Canadian officials told the AP that the shooter, who killed a soldier and wounded two other people near the Canadian Parliament building, is Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.

Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, was from Quebec and had recently converted to Islam, U.S. sources told Reuters. According to the Globe and Mail, he had been designated a "high-risk traveler" by Canadian officials and was barred from traveling outside the country.

After police chased him inside the Parliament building, Zehaf-Bibeau was killed by Sgt. at Arms Kevin Vickers.

Witnesses told the AP that Zehaf-Bibeau was wearing a scarf over his face when he opened fire in front of the Canadian War Memorial, which is across the street from Parliament.

The Canadian Broadcast Company released an image purported to be of the gunman:

An Ottawa police spokesman told HuffPost that the police were looking for at least one other suspect. However, in a press conference later on Wednesday, officials declined to say if there were multiple possible shooters.

Wednesday's shooting quickly sparked terrorism fears. Just two days earlier, a Quebec man suspected of ties to radical Islam killed one soldier and wounded another with his car before being killed by police. As Reuters pointed out, Martin Couture-Rouleau, the attacker, was one of 90 people being monitored by Canadian national police over extremist beliefs.

Earlier this month, NBC News reported that the Canadian government was monitoring "hundreds of people" that it suspected could be planning to join ISIS. Anonymous officials told NBC that they were aware of several threats from ISIS supporters, but they said that none were substantial.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated incorrectly that the suspect behind an attack earlier this week was Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. The actual suspect was Martin Couture-Rouleau, according to Reuters.

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