SHEDDING LIGHT

Police: Ottawa Gunman Was Radicalized

Parents issue apology for their son.

The mother of the gunman who killed a soldier before storming into Canada’s parliament complex on Wednesday has offered her condolences to the family of the victim on behalf of herself and her husband. Susan Bibeau, mother of Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, wrote in an email to the Associated Press that she and her husband “apologize for all the pain, fright, and chaos” their son caused. “We have no explanation to offer,” she wrote. “I am mad at our son, I don’t understand, and part of me wants to hate him at this time.” Bibeau said that her son, whom she had not seen for five years before meeting him for lunch last week, was “lost and did not fit in.” Also on Thursday, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Bob Paulson said that while officials still do not know the extent of Bibeau’s motivations, his actions were “linked to his radicalization.” There is no evidence that Bibeau was linked to Martin Rouleau-Couture—the man who ran over two Canadian soldiers on Monday—and he was not on the list of 90 or so Canadians that are considered a risk. According to Bibeau’s mother, he intended to travel to Syria and may have held Libyan citizenship in addition to Canadian citizenship.