Canadian police on Thursday released the surveillance video of the gunman who allegedly shot dead a soldier at a war memorial in Ottawa, and tried to attack the MPs inside the parliament building.
While releasing the CCTV footage, the police also revealed that the suspect – Michael Joseph Zehaf-Biheau, a 32-year-old petty criminal – had recently applied for a passport and was "hoping to leave for Syria."
Watch the surveillance video below:
Royal Canadian Mounted Police commissioner Bob Paulson said that authorities had been watching the gunman in the weeks before the deadly attack in the Canadian capital on Wednesday.
"The passport was part of his motivation. His application was not rejected. His passport was not revoked," Paulson told a news conference. "He was waiting to get it and there was an investigation going on to determine to see whether he would get a passport."
Authorities also said that the suspect's mother had told police about her son's desire to go to Syria.
Law enforcement and US government sources told CBS that the supect was from British Columbia and had recently converted to Islam. A history of drug addiction prior to his conversion was also reported.
The Canadian government is now investigating whether the 32-year-old had any contacts with known militants in Syria, most likely the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
The mother of the Suspect said on Thursday that she is crying for the victims and not her son. "Can you ever explain something like this?" she told Associated Press. "We are sorry."
After the attack, the ISIS militant supporters took to Twitter to laud the dead shooter and called for more attacks of similar nature in Canada.
