MONCTON, New Brunswick, (Reuters) – A 24-year-old man was charged with murder yesterday in the slayings of three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers during a shooting spree in the eastern Canadian city of Moncton.
Justin Bourque, dressed in blue prison garb and under heavy guard, stood motionless in Moncton Provincial Court as a judge read out the charges, local media reported.
In addition to three counts of first-degree murder, Bourque was charged with the attempted murder of two other Mounties who were hurt in the attacks, police said in a statement. The rampage took place late on Wednesday.
Bourque was arrested just after midnight (0300 GMT) on Friday after a massive manhunt by police, who cordoned off a large area of Moncton, a city of about 70,000 people in the East Coast province of New Brunswick.
The shooting spree was one of the worst of its kind in Canada, where gun laws are stricter than in the United States and deadly attacks on police are rare.
