This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A Canadian man and an American woman have been charged in connection with a foiled plot to carry out a mass shooting attack at a shopping mall on Valentine’s Day in Halifax, Nova Scotia, police said on Saturday.

Lindsay Kantha Souvannarath, 23, of Geneva, Illinois, and Randall Steven Shepherd, 20, of Nova Scotia, were charged with conspiracy to commit murder. They are due to appear in court in Canada on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear if Souvannarath will be extradited to the US.

A third suspect, a 17-year-old boy from Cole Harbour who police initially considered a “person of interest”, has been released from custody after it was determined there was not “enough information or evidence” to charge him in this case, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) commanding officer Brian Brennan.

A fourth suspect, a 19-year-old male, killed himself on Friday after police surrounded a residence in Timberlea, a suburb of Halifax. Brennan said police seized three long-barrel rifles from the house.

Citing an anonymous senior police official, the Associated Press reported that Souvannarath and Shepherd had confessed to the plot, adding that Souvannarath had prepared a number of pronouncements to be tweeted after her death. The official told the Associated Press the suspects used a “chat stream” to communicate and were apparently obsessed with death and had many photos of mass killings.

Halifax police chief Jean-Michel Blais said the Halifax Shopping Centre was the target of the allegedly planned attack.

During the press conference, Brennan described the pair as having a “friendship relationship”, but refrained from giving further details.

Earlier on Saturday, federal justice minister Peter MacKay said: “This appeared to be a group of murderous misfits that were coming here, or were living here, and prepared to wreak havoc and mayhem on our community.

“It would have been devastating. Mass casualties were a real possibility.”

On Friday, police found the 19-year-old dead at his home in Timberlea, about 20 minutes outside Halifax. Souvannarath was arrested at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, upon her arrival in Canada. Shepard, there to meet Souvannarath, was also arrested.

RCMP officials said they received an anonymous tip the day before the attack and acted immediately. Police said they did not know who the caller was, only that the tip came from Canada.

Despite giving few details, officials were careful to distinguish the planned shooting from a “terrorist” attack, their characterization of the attack that paralysed Ottawa in October when a troubled man went on a shooting rampage in parliament.

“This group of individuals we would not define as a terrorist group,” Brennan said. “They were four individuals that had a friendship. Their friendship was not based on culture or ideology. They were four individuals who formed a friendship who decided to plan and commit a heinous crime.”

Blais added: “The important thing is to realize that this has nothing to do with ethnic, political considerations, at least at this point.”

A man who said he knew Shepard and the 19-year-old who killed himself on Friday told CBC News he was shocked to learn of their alleged involvement. Vincent Appleton, of Halifax, said he met the two a few months ago at a live metal music show at a local pub.

“I don’t picture either of them being capable of such a thing. It’s not the type of thing I ever heard them talk or joke about,” said Appleton.

Appleton said the pair were learning to play instruments and they would joke about starting a “kick-ass metal band”.

“They were fun kids, just dumb kids that were fun to hang out with,” he said.

In Illinois, the Geneva police department said it was contacted by the Halifax regional police department about a “potential significant weapons-related threat” posed by the 23-year-old woman. In a statement, the department said they had not had prior contact with Souvannarath.

Speaking to the CBC, the mayor of Halifax, Mike Savage, said Halifax police, Geneva police, the RCMP, the Canada Border Services Agency and the US Department of Homeland Security were all involved in the operation.

Savage told CBC: “Fortunately today, we’re talking [about] something that could have been, not something that was.”