Mishall RehmanA Saskatchewan native, the son of a Canadian Armed Forces member and a known Islamic State supporter. As details emerge of the foiled terror plot of Wed. Aug. 10, authorities and the public are trying to piece together just who Aaron Driver was.
The 24-year-old was known to authorities and was subject to a Peace Bond when he was arrested in April 2015 on terrorism-related charges.
A Peace Bond is a protection order made by a criminal court that requires the individual to maintain good behaviour for an amount of time and cannot be charged with additional criminal offences.
Driver was known to comment online in support of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) activities and have friends that were fighting with the terror organization.
Driver made such comments in an interview with CBC last year, “If a country goes to war with another country or another people or another community, I think that they have to be prepared for things like [the Parliament Hill shooting] to happen,” Driver said.
“And when it does happen they shouldn’t, they shouldn’t act surprised. They had it coming for them; they deserved it,” Driver told CBC News.
Driver’s father also told CBC News last year, that Driver’s behaviour was significantly changed when his mother passed away when he was seven.
A tip from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the morning of Aug. 10 led to authorities identifying and preventing a major terrorist attack.
The RCMP took to a press conference on Thursday, Aug. 11 to provide additional details on the incident.
“The safety and security of Canadian citizens is of the utmost importance to the RCMP. As soon as we received the information, we immediately took the necessary steps to ensure the public’s safety,” said Deputy Commissioner Mike Cabana, Federal Policing. “We actively engaged relevant Canadian law enforcement and security agencies, asking them to exercise an increased level of vigilance and to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.”
After receiving the tip that an attack was likely within the next 72 hours in a major urban centre, RCMP investigators and Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) partners identified the suspect as Aaron Driver, who was in Strathroy, Ontario at the time.
Specialized units including the RCMP Explosives Disposal Unit and Emergency Response Team were dispatched to Driver’s residence.
“When he exited a residence on Park Street and entered into a cab, the RCMP’s ERT engaged the suspect, there was a detonation inside the taxi, and the suspect subsequently died following a confrontation with the police,” said Assistant Commissioner Jennifer Strachan, Commanding Officer of O Division (Ontario).
The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces also worked with federal partners to track this event.
The investigation is still currently ongoing.
