Alexandre Bissonnette is the name being whispered by students in the crowded basement cafeteria at Laval University’s Social Science building. He is the reason the young men and women here, Bissonnette’s classmates until days ago, have been in “shock.” He is why the student-run coffee shop has placed a frustrated sign outside its doors: “No media.”
Yet the name of the 27-year-old Laval student now accused of murdering six men in Sunday’s mosque attack, and attempting to murder five more, was not uttered during a packed assembly Tuesday evening inside the Laval’s social sciences building, a coming-together for staff and students after events the school’s vice dean said have “shaken” the university community.
Amongst heartfelt expressions of grief and information to students and staff about additional counselling services, only one of the arranged speakers, a young female student, acknowledged the particular blow of having walked the halls with the accused killer, who studied political science and anthropology.
“It’s a shock to learn that the student (accused) was a Social Science student,” said Roxanne Lachance. “But we can find evil no matter where. Hatred exists everywhere.”
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Who is Alexandre Bissonnette?
No matter how they knew him — growing up with him as a child, living alongside his family, or taking classes alongside him — those who know Bissonnette personally say the allegations against the slight, introverted young man are stunning, if only because they strike so close to home.
“Nobody saw this coming,” said Kevin Lacerte in an interview through Facebook messenger Tuesday, of friends who knew Bissonnette and his twin brother.
Lacerte, who met Bissonnette at chess club, said he was closer to his brother and described Bissonnette as being a bit of an introvert, and a bit of a “smart ass”. The last time he saw him was two weeks ago, he said.
Lacerte said Bissonnette’s brother messaged him on Facebook moments after the shooting, expressing shock that there had been an attack at the Ste.-Foy mosque. At the time, Lacerte said he didn’t think much of it and just wanted sleep.
Since Bissonnette was accused in the attack, Lacerte said he reached out to Bissonnette’s twin. As of Tuesday, he hadn’t heard anything back.
Charles Tremblay, who runs the Sainte-Foy chess club, said he knew the Bissonnette brothers as two passionate chess players who were always together, but said he didn’t know much about their personal lives beyond the game. Tremblay said he hadn’t seen the brothers in about two years.
“He was normal … I never heard, I never saw him with problems or anything like that,” Tremblay said. “He was someone who was normal.”
Mikael Labrecque Berger went to high school with Bissonnette at Oleybet Les Compagnons-de-Cartier in Quebec City. He said he wasn’t friends with Bissonnette, but “everyone knew everyone” at the school.
Bissonnette was bullied, Labrecque Berger said, but he did not take it lying down. Labrecque Berger recalled how when a classmate returned to school after having heart surgery, Bissonnette made fun of her scar and told her “she looked like an alien.”
“He would respond to the bullies, trying to make remarks about somebody else, but it always ended with everyone laughing at him,” Labrecque Berger said, adding that Bissonnette’s only friend appeared to be his twin brother.
“They were always together,” he said. “His twin was a little more social, and (Bissonnette) was pretty antisocial. Not that he didn’t talk to anyone, but nobody wanted to be his friend.”
On the quiet, snow-laden Sainte-Foy street where Bissonnette grew up, neighbours remember him as boy who played baseball, swam in backyard pools and explored the nearby forest, as did many other local boys.
Rejean Bussieres, who has lived across from the Bissonnette family for years, said Bissonnette had a passion for guns as far back as adolescence. He recalled how Bissonnette used to shoot pellet guns at trees in the woods behind his house as a child.
“Alexandre really liked guns,” said Bussieres, who added that his son told him Bissonnette had a gun when he was about 12-years old. “He showed one to my son and my son didn’t like that.”
On Tuesday, no one answered the door at the Bissonnette home, a two-story house with a Quebec flag flying in the backyard. A single bouquet of flowers sat on their doorstep, with a card addressed to Bissonnette’s parents.
Recently, Bissonnette lived in a four-storey apartment building on a residential Ste. Foy street. Monday morning, residents awoke to find a Quebec police cruiser parked outside, and assumed police were amping up security in the area following Sunday night’s fatal shooting.
But throughout the morning, more police started coming inside, focusing their attention on a top floor unit, apartment 404.
It wasn’t until Thomas Larouche saw the grey Mitsubishi vehicle on the TV news — the one he’d parked beside for the last few months — that he realized Bissonnette had been his neighbour.
He recalled seeing the car in the building’s parking lot as recently as Saturday, one day before the attacks.
Larouche and other residents described Bissonnette as a quiet tenant who kept to himself and who moved in within the last few months. They did not know if he lived alone, but said they often heard multiple voices inside the apartment.
As glove-wearing investigators moved in and out of the unit, neighbours across the hall said they caught glimpses inside, seeing nothing out of the ordinary — a TV, a chair, a table.
Samuel Gagnon, who lives on the same floor as Bissonnette, recalled his neighbour as never smiling and often covering his head with a hoodie.
“It’s really shocking,” Gagnon said. “He was living 15 metres away from us.”
Bissonnette also worked at the call centre for Héma-Québec, Quebec’s blood bank. In a statement, the agency said the organization is “shocked” to learn of the alleged connection between one of their employees and the attacks.
“As an organization whose primary mission is dedicated to the gift of life, these events have sent a shock wave through the organization.”
With files from Canadian Press
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