MONTREAL - Shots were fired outside the Montreal theatre where Quebec premier-elect Pauline Marois was giving her victory speech Tuesday night, killing one person and leaving one critically injured.
A section of Ste. Catherine St. in front of the Metropolis has been closed.
Police and the fire department are on the scene.
Television footage also showed police leading away a suspect dressed in a blue bathrobe and black balaclava. The man, in his 50s, said "the anglos are waking up" in French with a strong English accent.
Marois was hustled off stage mid speech Television footage showed what appeared to be a man pinned to the ground by officers and other police examining what looked like a rifle. Footage also showed flames behind the Metropolis.
Marois, Quebec’s premier-elect, was rushed by her police bodyguards from the stage Tuesday night as she was wrapping up her victory speech after her Parti Québécois won the Quebec election with a minority.
The host of the event told the audience a blank had been fired, and people should not be alarmed.
But people began to calmly evacuate the theatre until Marois returned to the microphone and appealed for calm, saying “That is what a woman chief of government does.”
The incident put a damper on what was a noisy, happy celebration of Marois’ victory.
A witness on the scene said that there were two men involved in the incident.
Sylvain Giguere, a PQ supporter, said after Marois was yanked offstage, “the room went deadly quiet.”
She soon returned to the microphone and said an “unfortunate incident” had occurred.
She asked supporters to leave the hall in a quiet manner.
More to come...
