Gun-toting soldier from Manitoba arrested after crashing gate at Rideau Hall

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This article was published 01/07/2020 (1541 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — A gun-toting member of the Canadian Armed Forces was arrested Thursday after ramming his truck through the front gate of Rideau Hall, where both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov.-Gen. Julie Payette live.

The RCMP had not publicly identified the suspect by early evening but said in a statement he’s a member of the military from Manitoba.

Media reported the suspect is Corey Hurren of Bowsman, 385 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

Photos of the crashed truck show a leather jacket hanging out the passenger door, with the logo from the Bowsman Bull-a-Rama rodeo. 

The reeve of the RM of Minitonas-Bowsman said Hurren doesn’t have a bad reputation in the town, which is a 28-hour drive from Ottawa.

“We never had a problem with him… and I don’t know how he made it all the way to Ottawa,” Walter Pacamaniuk told the Free Press.

The reeve suspected Hurren is part of the Canadians Rangers contingent in Swan River, 18 kilometres south of the town. The Rangers are reservists who are often posted to remote and coastal regions.

Citing sources, Global News reported the man was armed with a rifle and two shotguns, and had driven from Manitoba to Ottawa because he wanted to speak with Trudeau.

The suspect breached the pedestrian entrance, known as Thomas Gate, at 6:30 a.m. local time. Upon impact, his pickup truck, a black Dodge Ram, broke down. He left the vehicle on foot and entered a nearby greenhouse, which reportedly connects to Rideau Hall.

RCMP moved quickly to contain the area and the emergency response team was dispatched.

“The armed suspect was apprehended shortly before 8:30 a.m. without any incident and he was brought into police custody for questioning,” the RCMP said.

“The prime minister and his family, as well as the Governor General, were not present on site at the time of incident.”

The military and RCMP released few details.

In a written statement, the military directed the Free Press to the RCMP, saying it was the “lead investigative body” on the matter.

Meanwhile, the RCMP would not say what charges were pending against the suspect or when his name would be released to the public.

“Through our members’ vigilance, quick action and successful de-escalation techniques, this highly volatile incident was resolved swiftly and peacefully,” said Mike Duheme, RCMP deputy commissioner of federal policing.

Hurren’s business, GrindHouse Fine Foods, posted a meme on its Facebook page within an hour of the incident in Ottawa. It refers to Event 201, and implies a connection between that and a conspiracy theory that the COVID-19 pandemic was co-ordinated by global elites.

Hurren’s LinkedIn profile says he’s a veteran of the Royal Canadian Artillery, who had two decades of experience in meat and livestock before launching his own company in 2014, and that he’d recently joined the Rangers.

The profile claims he studied computer science at Brandon University and Red River College.

The Mounties have not revealed any motive for the incident.

During intermittent rain Thursday, Mounties could been seen placing a grey tarp on top of the suspect’s truck, which carried Manitoba licence plates.

By mid-afternoon, the RCMP escorted a pair of investigators carrying equipment to the scene, walking over the pieces of black metal fencing on the ground.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca