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Denis LORTIE

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Canadian army corporal - Intended to assassinate Premier René Lévesque - Disgruntled with a number of policies of the Quebec and federal governments
Number of victims: 3
Date of murders: May 8, 1984
Date of arrest: Same day
Date of birth: 1959
Victims profile: Georges Boyer, Camille Lepage and Roger Lefrançois (Quebec government employees)
Method of murder: Shooting
Location: Quebec, Canada
Status: Convicted of first-degree murder in 1985, but a new trial was ordered due to legal errors. Lortie pleaded guilty to reduced charges of second-degree murder in 1987. Paroled in December 1995
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Denis Lortie is a Canadian murderer, who killed three Quebec government employees in 1984.

A corporal with the Royal 22e Régiment of the Canadian Armed Forces, Lortie was disgruntled with a number of policies of the Quebec and federal governments. He planned a killing spree as a means of broadcasting his discontent.

On May 7 of that year, Lortie left the CFS Carp military base pretending that he needed time off to arrange a divorce with his wife. Instead, he rented a car, drove to Québec City and took a guided tour of the Quebec Parliament Building. He then rented a room in a motel of the boulevard Laurier for the night.

The next day, at 9:30 a.m, Lortie walked into the CJRP radio station in Quebec City and dropped off a sealed envelope containing an audiotape for one of the station's hosts, André Arthur. He instructed the radio staff not to open the envelope until 10:30, they opened it anyway, discovering that it was a statement of Lortie's plans, in which he declared that "The government now in power is going to be destroyed." However, by the time radio staff contacted police, Lortie's plan had already been put into action.

At 9:45 a.m., Lortie entered the Quebec Parliament Building through a side door located on Grande-Allée. He was dressed in combat fatigues and armed with two submachine guns. Just as he entered the building, he shot at a receptionist, then killed a messenger that he crossed in a corridor. He ended up in a smoking room and shot at the people there. He then went to the cafeteria, but finally found his way into the Assembly Chamber.

Based on later testimony, it is clear he intended to assassinate René Lévesque and other members of the governing Parti Québécois. His plan was to enter the Assembly Chamber during the parliamentary committee starting at 10:00 that morning. However, he arrived early when only a few people were present in the Chamber. Lortie killed three government employees (Georges Boyer, Camille Lepage and Roger Lefrançois) and wounded 13 others. No politicians were killed or wounded.

The National Assembly's Sergeant-at-Arms, René Jalbert, was told there was a man with a gun in the Assembly Chamber. Upon stepping out the elevator, Lortie fired on him. Seeing that Lortie was in a military uniform, Jalbert told him that he too had been a soldier with the Van Doos, and that if Lortie allowed he would show him his discharge card. Lortie agreed, after which Jalbert persuaded him to show his own identification.

After this exchange, Jalbert persuaded Lortie to come to his office to discuss the matter, and release the other civilians in the Assembly Chamber. Jalbert talked to Lortie for over four hours, ultimately persuading him to surrender to military police (he was unwilling to surrender to civilian police) at 14:22. For his heroic act which likely prevented further death, the Canadian government several months later awarded Jalbert the Cross of Valour.

In 1985, Lortie was convicted of first-degree murder, but a new trial was ordered due to legal errors. Lortie pleaded guilty to reduced charges of second-degree murder in 1987.

Lortie was paroled in December 1995.

Marc Lépine, who murdered 14 women in 1989 in the École Polytechnique Massacre, left a suicide note expressing his admiration of Lortie.

Several people affirm to have seen Lorti playing with his dentures in a spectacular way at the time of the last shooting, one classifies this phenomenon as paranormal. A guy named Max, also known as Como was one of the spectator of this particular event. Some said Caporal Lortie was a regular client at Le Carlito restaurant and was often drunk at the club named « Le Monkey ».

 
 

Denis Lortie is a former Canadian army corporal. In 1984, he stormed into the National Assembly of Quebec building and killed three Quebec government employees.

Cpl Lortie was a Supply Technician in the Canadian Forces and was disgruntled with a number of policies of the Quebec and federal governments. He planned a killing spree as a means of broadcasting his discontent.

On May 7 of that year, Lortie left the CFS Carp military base (better known as the Diefenbunker) pretending that he needed time off to arrange a divorce with his wife. Instead, he rented a car, drove to Quebec City and took a guided tour of the Quebec Parliament Building. He then rented a room in a motel on Laurier Boulevard for the night.

The next day, at 9:30 a.m., Lortie walked into CJRP radio station in Quebec City and dropped off a sealed envelope containing an audiotape for one of the station's hosts, André Arthur. He instructed the radio staff not to open the envelope until 10:30 a.m. but they opened it anyway, discovering that it was a statement of Lortie's plans, in which he declared that "The government now in power is going to be destroyed." However, by the time radio staff contacted police, Lortie's plan had already been put into action.

At 9:45 a.m., Lortie entered the Quebec Parliament Building through a side door located on Grande-Allée. He was dressed in combat fatigues and armed with two submachine guns. As he entered the building, he shot at a receptionist, then killed a messenger that he encountered in a corridor. He went into a smoking room and shot at the people there. He then went to the cafeteria, but finally found his way into the Assembly Chamber.

Based on later testimony, it is clear he intended to assassinate Premier René Lévesque and other members of the governing Parti Québécois. His plan was to enter the Assembly Chamber during the parliamentary committee starting at 10:00 that morning. However instead of using a watch, Lortie timed his attack by listening to CJRP and waited for the station's host, André Arthur, to end his segment. Fortunately that day, André Arthur ended his broadcast 20 minutes early, leading Lortie to enter the building and make his way to the Assembly Chamber while it was still mostly empty. Nevertheless, Lortie killed three government employees (Georges Boyer, Camille Lepage and Roger Lefrançois) and wounded 13 others. No politicians were killed or wounded.

The National Assembly's Sergeant-at-Arms, René Jalbert, was told there was a man with a gun in the Assembly Chamber. Upon stepping out the elevator, Lortie fired on him. Seeing that Lortie was in a military uniform, Jalbert told him that he too had been a soldier with the Van Doos (slang for the Royal 22e Régiment), and that if Lortie allowed he would show him his discharge card. Lortie agreed, after which Jalbert persuaded him to show his own identification.

After this exchange, Jalbert persuaded Lortie to come to his office to discuss the matter, and release the other civilians in the Assembly Chamber. Jalbert talked to Lortie for over four hours, ultimately persuading him to surrender to military police (he was unwilling to surrender to civilian police) at 14:22. For his heroic act which likely prevented further death, the Canadian government several months later awarded Jalbert the Cross of Valour.

One of the factors contributing to the crime was the easy access that Lortie had to both weapons and ammunition. Unlike other non-combat Canadian Forces Bases, the CFS Carp "Diefenbunker" did not have room for separate weapons and ammunition lockers.

According to psychiatrist Pierre Mailloux who was assigned to the case, Lortie suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had organized his crime during a psychotic episode, believed his was acting on instructions from God. Nevertheless, in 1985, Lortie was convicted of first-degree murder, but a new trial was ordered due to legal errors. Lortie pleaded guilty to reduced charges of second-degree murder in 1987.

Lortie was paroled in December 1995. He now lives in Quebec and works in construction.

Wikipedia.org

 
 

Denis Lortie

"Maybe I will hurt a lot of people, but what do you expect"

At 9.30am on Tuesday, May 8, 1984, Denis Lortie walked into the CJRP radio station in Quebec, Canada, and handed the person at the desk at sealed envelope containing an audio tape. He left the person with the instructions to play it at 10.00am. He had written "The Life of a Person" on the envelope.

Since Lortie seemed like a nutter, and had a large hunting knife strapped to his leg they decided to open the envelope and listen to the tape. It contained a suicide note of sorts as Lortie told how he was about to destroy the government.

"No one will be able to stop me - not the police, not the army - because I am going to carry out destruction and then destroy myself. It will be a first for Canada."

By the time they had got in touch with the police Lortie's 'destruction' had already begun.

"I came here to kill"

Lortie had attacked the Quebec National Assembly. In the four-and-a-half-hours that followed, Lortie had killed three officials and wounded thirteen others. He held the entire hall at his will, even sitting in the Speakers chair for some time. He even spoke to the wounded, offering apologies to his victims.

"Sorry for wounding you, but that's life."

Lortie was eventually talked into surrender by one of his captives.

He was originally sentenced to life in prison, but following appeal he had the charges dropped down to second-degree murder (representing himself). He came up for parole in 1994, but as far as I know he's still sitting in a cell.

The next day, Jean-Claude Nadeau, a survivor of Lortie's attack, went off his fucking head and shot two people. Unluckily for him they both survived.

 
 

Lortie Released

Maclean's - January 16, 1995

Denis Lortie, the former army corporal who murdered three people and injured 13 others after storming the Quebec National Assembly in May, 1984, was released on day parole to a halfway house in Hull, Quebec.

Lortie, 36, had been undergoing psychiatric treatment in a minimum security prison north of Montreal, where he was serving a life sentence with no eligibility for parole for 10 years. According to National Parole Board officials, Lortie no longer poses a threat to society and will be eligible for full parole in six months.

For his part, in an interview on the CBC's new French-language all-news network, Lortie said he was "disconnected from reality" at the time of the killings, but that the counselling he has received in prison has helped prepare him for release. "I have the tools," Lortie claims, "that I didn't have before."

Under the release terms, Lortie must spend every night at the halfway house between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. He must also let supervisors know where he is at all times and is restricted to a 40-km radius from the house. But the relatives of some of Lortie's victims say he is getting off too easily.

Indeed, Steve Boyer, whose father was killed by Lortie, says that he should have been executed. And Hélène LeFrancois, whose husband was also murdered in the legislature, adds: "I have tried to forget, but in the last 10 years nothing has eased the grief I felt at the loss of my husband."

 
 

"Mr. D."

A gunman in Quebec

Monday, May. 21, 1984 - Time.com

A bearded man wearing camouflage army gear and a beret and with a knife strapped to his leg walked into the studios of CJRP, a Quebec City radio station, one morning last week. He handed a cassette tape to a reporter and told her, "To you, my name is Mr. D."

A short time later, a man fitting Mr. D.'s description burst into the Quebec provincial legislature, called the National Assembly, firing a submachine gun as he went and shouting, "Où sont les députés? Jevais les tuer!" (Where are the legislators? I am going to kill them!) By the time he reached the second floor and entered the Salon Bleu, the legislative chamber, three people were dead: an Assembly page, a messenger and an aide to the director of elections. Thirteen other Assembly employees were wounded, one seriously.

Police later arrested Corporal Denis Lortie, 25, a supply technician attached to a Canadian Armed Forces installation near Ottawa. Canadian authorities have not speculated on Lortie's motives. But the tape left by the man at CJRP threatened to "destroy" the provincial government, which has espoused separation from the rest of Canada. The recording railed against the ruling Parti Québécois 's pro-French language policies, declaring: "I [have] waited for just the right moment. It's at hand now. The government will be destroyed."

The gunman's timing, however, was fortunately poor. Quebec Premier René Lévesque and his Cabinet were not due in the Salon Bleu until that afternoon. Some ministers were having a late breakfast, though, and they quickly barricaded themselves in the legislature's restaurant. But Assembly employees had no protection. "I'm sorry for wounding you," the assailant reportedly told a worker shot in the arm during the fracas, "but that's life."

The hero of the day was the Assembly's sergeant at arms, René Jalbert, 63, a retired army major who helped convince Lortie that he should give himself up. Approaching the man as he sat in the Speaker's throne, Jalbert offered him coffee and a cigarette and coolly remarked: "I see you're an army man. I'm an army man myself." Jalbert took him to his downstairs office, where, four hours later, a Quebec police negotiator persuaded Lortie by telephone to surrender. (He later pleaded not guilty to three charges of first-degree murder.) Declared Jalbert modestly: "Every sergeant at arms across Canada would have done the same thing."

 

 

 
 
 
 
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