Edmonton City Hall shooter charged with terrorism

On January 23, 28-year-old Bezhani Sarvar entered Edmonton City Hall armed with a long rifle and incendiary devices and began an attack that left the people across the nation and certainly those in city hall shaken.

Fortunately, due to the actions of an unarmed security guard, Sarvar was restrained and taken into custody before anyone was hurt.

Soon after Rebel News acquired and shared a video purporting to show the suspected Edmonton City Hall shooter sharing his manifesto of sorts discussing a wide range of issues including affordability, inflation, racism and health before committing a significant portion of his comments to addressing what he refers to a, “genocide that is going on it Gaza” and committing to hold world “destabilisers” on trial in the name of God.

His rant is laden with Islamic references and prayers, a fact that we saw glaringly omitted by many outlets when we first released this video.

It was apparent despite the disjointed nature of Sarvar’s comments, that his actions on January 23 were clearly planned and were driven by political motivations, so there was little question as to whether this was a terrorist attack.

Despite the video evidence, he faced six charges, none of which were terrorism related.

While delaying significant charges to build a strong case is not uncommon, the video evidence in the links above alone should have proved sufficient to press terrorism charges immediately, but despite the delay on March 4, 2024 RCMP finally announced that Bezhani Sarvar was facing the following charges:

• Counselling commission of terrorism offence contrary to section 83.221(1) of the Criminal Code; and,
• Possession of property for terrorist purposes contrary to section 83.04 of the Criminal Code.

Per the RCMP, these charges are in conjunction with the following charges which also constitute terrorism offences:

• Intentionally or recklessly cause damage by fire or explosion to property, knowing the property was inhabited contrary to section 433(a) of the Criminal Code;
• Intentionally possess incendiary material while committing an indictable offence contrary to section 436.1 of the Criminal Code;
• Use of a firearm while committing an indictable offence contrary to section 85(1)(a) of the Criminal Code;
• Intentional discharge of a firearm while being reckless as to the life and safety of another person contrary to section 244.2(1)(b) of the Criminal Code;
• Possession of a prohibited device contrary to section 92(2) of the Criminal Code (x2);
• Mischief contrary to section 430(1)(a) of the Criminal Code;
• Carrying a concealed weapon contrary to section 90(1) of the Criminal Code; and,
• Possession of weapon for the purpose of committing an offence contrary to section 88(1) of the Criminal Code.

Sarvar will remain in custody at the Calgary Remand Centre and is expected in court on March 5, though we do not expect meaningful updates for some time as the investigation is ongoing and the RCMP stated that they will not be making further comments at this time.