Justin Bourque arrested by Canadian police, linked to murder of three police officers
Canadian police said they had arrested the man suspected to shooting and killing three police officers and wounded two more in the eastern city of Moncton, ending a massive manhunt.
Justin Bourque, 24, was arrested just after midnight by authorities as they announced that he ” is in police custody. Residents of north Moncton can now leave their homes,” the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a tweet on Friday.
The manhunt has occurred since Wednesday with Bourque being spotted a few times on Thursday but managed to elude police. He was seen dressed in camouflage and carrying rifles.
Police then “shut down the city of about 70,000 people about 1,177km east of the Canadian capital, Ottawa,” reports detailed. Schools were closed and mass transit stopped during this time.
One of his closest friends says he was drinking, doing drugs and had “fallen into the rabbit hole of pro-gun, anti-police activism, showing a recent and uncharacteristic interest in global events on his very active and public Facebook profile and criticizing what he has called the ‘international militarization of police.’ according to The National Post.
A gunman shot four police officers in 2005 and then killed himself. These were the next worst shootings in decades.