An Alberta sheriff patrols outside Edmonton City Hall during an investigation after shots were fired inside the building on Jan. 23.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
A former security guard accused of a shooting at Edmonton’s City Hall in January is facing new terrorism charges.
The RCMP Federal Policing Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) announced on Monday that Bezhani Sarvar, 28, had been charged with counselling commission of a terrorism offence and possession of property for terrorist purposes.
Mr. Sarvar’s other charges include causing damage by fire or explosion, carrying a concealed weapon, using a firearm in the commission of an offence, intentionally discharging a firearm, and mischief.
No one was injured in the shooting, which occurred at about 10:20 a.m. on a workday, while several meetings were taking place and a Grade 1 class was touring the building.
In a video that circulated on social media after the shooting, a man identified by a co-worker as Mr. Sarvar talks about embarking on a “mission,” and lists a number of concerns including “the tyranny and corruption taking over our society and our lives”; the “wokeism disease”; inflation; unrest because of multiculturalism; and “the genocide that’s going on in Gaza and around the world.”
Edmonton police have said the accused shooter entered City Hall through the parking garage, lit several devices believed to be Molotov cocktails, and walked through the building firing into walls, windows and the ceiling. Police said the suspect then surrendered to an unarmed security guard and was detained until police arrived.
Before the shooting, Mr. Sarvar was employed for almost five years with the Corps of Commissionaires, a non-profit security company that employs veterans, former police officers and civilians. After Mr. Sarvar’s arrest, Commissionaires Northern Alberta Division chief executive Nick Grimshaw described Mr. Sarvar as having been a “good and reliable” worker, and said there were “no red flags that we were aware of.” He said Mr. Sarvar was a civilian employee and had never been stationed at City Hall.
The guard who detained the shooter was also a commissionaire.
Mr. Sarvar is currently in custody at the Calgary Remand Centre and is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.
This is the second INSET investigation to result in charges against an Edmonton-area resident in recent weeks.
In February, INSET arrested and charged 33-year-old Mark Alexander Peterson with multiple offences related to a cache of prohibited high-capacity guns and ammunition.
Jana G. Pruden