Canadian police said today that the preliminary investigation into the stabbing incident - which killed at least two people and wounded 5 others - revealed that the attacker did not belong to any terrorist group, and the accident occurred in the "Parliament Hill" in Quebec City, eastern Canada.
Quebec police said - earlier today - that they arrested a suspect early Sunday, and that initial indications were that the motives for the attack were personal, adding that the twenty-year-old was wearing medieval clothes and carrying a sword.
According to police statements, the suspect attacked a number of people in several places in the city at the end of the "Halloween" holiday in a tourist neighborhood in the capital of Quebec province, whose residents speak French.
Canadian security sources told Al-Jazeera that the stabbing took place in at least 4 locations, and that the authorities arrested the perpetrator after a chase for two and a half hours.
#VIDEO: Risky situation in old Quebec City, #Canada.
As reported by local media, a man dressed as Samurai is said to have killed several people with a knife.
Large-scale police deployment seen.
# QUÉBEC #Frontenac #QuebecCity
Vieux-Québecpic.twitter.com / 8p3QZJYs2K
- Rahul Upadhyay (@rahulrajnews) November 1, 2020
Multiple locations
The local newspaper, Le Soleil, quoted 3 eyewitnesses as saying that the attacker "slaughtered" his first victim, then continued his way on a street in the old quarter of Quebec City, where he killed the second person before heading to the city's old port, causing other injuries .
Video clips circulating on the media showed a heavy security presence of police forces in the Old Quebec region, and near the Regional Parliament.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said that the suspect was arrested near the old port in the city, and taken to hospital, and it was reported that he was suffering from hypothermia, and that he did not resist when he was arrested.
CBC News quoted a police spokesman as saying that two people were killed as a result of the attacker's attacks, and 5 others were taken to hospital. The police did not provide details about the victims, and only indicated that the nature of the injuries and their degree of severity varied among the five wounded, but None of them is in critical condition.
The security authorities opened an investigation, and asked residents to stay inside their homes at night, and surrounded several neighborhoods, especially the neighborhood that includes the Parliament of Quebec.