On January 24, 2024, Edmonton Police Service issued the following media release:
City Hall shooter charged
A man who discharged a firearm in Edmonton’s City Hall yesterday is facing charges.
At approximately 10:18 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, a male parked his vehicle in the City Hall underground parkade, then entered the building from the parkade access. Once inside City Hall, he lit several handheld incendiary devices, believed to be Molotov cocktails, that caused one small fire outside an elevator. He then fired several rounds from a long gun into the ceiling, walls and windows. No one was struck by gunfire.
The male then dropped the firearm on the floor and surrendered to a City Hall security Commissionaire, who detained him until police arrived moments later. EPS and RCMP Tactical teams then worked for several hours to secure and clear the building of any further threats, escorting out citizens who had been sheltering in place in various locations throughout City Hall.
The male, identified as Bezhani Sarvar, 28, is charged with six charges: reckless discharge of firearm into place, use/place/throw explosive substance, arson to property, possess incendiary material, use of firearm while committing offence and careless use of firearm.
Sarvar’s bail hearing is Jan. 25, 2024.
The EPS is aware of a video circulating that may be related to this incident. Investigators are reviewing this video. “Our officers are working closely with our national security partners on this investigation,” says Chief Dale McFee. “I would like to reassure the public that we believe there is no further threat to public safety at this time. The investigation is in its early stages, and we will continue to update Edmontonians as it progresses.”
EPS is working with RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams (INSET) partners on the continued investigation. No further information is available at this time.
Bezhani Sarvar laid out his world-view in a video manifesto published online before the incident. Here the transcript of the video:
As-salamu alaykum [Peace be upon you], brothers and sisters. Before I do my mission, I want you all to know that I am not a psychopath. I do not believe in bloodshed. I am not one of these monsters that hurt children, that hurt innocence and that promote wars over the civilization of our society. I’m just tired of seeing the tyranny and corruption taking over our society in our lives. Good, honest, and God-fearing men and women, must be our doctors, law enforcement, diplomats, politicians, and teachers that rise up against this wokeism disease, that leading our generation into deception. We need good men and women in our workforces [sic] to promote a pro-human life. We need to rise up against this inflation, housing crisis, the unrest that’s happening between us because of multiculturalism, due to religion, race, and all that stuff that needs to come to an end with one another. And or anything or anyone that leads us into destruction, we must rise and put a stop into it. Leaders, officials, and anybody that has hands into this corruption, into this genocide that’s going on in Gaza and throughout the world, anybody that is destabilizing other countries hurting their community, what you’d call, should feel ashamed of themselves, and inshallah [Allah Willing] we will rise against you guys and we’ll put you on trial. So immigrants, we must understand that we are part of this agenda. We’re not here for no reason. This is a man-made war. This is a man-made immigration crisis that we’re all here. But instead of hate and anger in our hearts, we must spare love, respect one another, show honesty with one another, and promote pro-life and work with one another to build our economy, our country, and promote strong and pro-human life. We must respect the Canadians’ laws, and we must stand with the owners of this land, and Canadians shoulders to shoulders to fight racism, to fight this inflation, to fight this rising of cost, to fight our tax money going into this genocide, as going into this all these wars, to weapons as destroying all these countries. We must all stand united and fight this off and promote a healthy social life, healthy health system, healthy education. We’ve got to start taking control of our lives and taking control of how we spend our money. I have a good life, I have a beautiful wife, I have beautiful children, I love them dearly. But I cannot sit back and let this happen. I cannot watch our society crumble into darkness.mWe all need to rise up. We all need to stop being on our phones. We’ve got to promote a healthy social life where we all communicate with one another, see each other, we’ve got to stop all the racism at work, at outside, we’ve got to stop bullying, we’ve got to stop hate, we’ve got to be in control of our tax, how we spend and the tax money has to be spent on us, and it has to be spent on something that is pro-life, pro-human, and something that is beneficial for us and our children. [A shot segment spoken in Dari] And that goes for all of us. We need to start filtering our water. We need to watch what we are eating. We need to start eating healthy. Our officials need to start promoting healthy choices, healthy diet healthy exercises. They need to unite us all as one, and we all gotta start doing something positive for our society. Look what’s happening. We all know what’s going on and we cannot turn a blind eye. I’m not turning a blind eye. As-salamu alaykum [Peace be upon you], brothers and sisters and inshallah [Allah Willing] I will succeed with my mission. If I don’t succeed, I know someone else will succeed for me. As-salamu alaykum [Peace be upon you]
Bishnu Thapa reported:
Bezhani Sarvar is a 28-year-old man… a native of Afghanistan and has lived in Canada since 2012… In the days leading up to the attack, Sarvar posted several videos on social media in which he expressed support for the Palestinian cause and condemned the Israeli government. He also expressed a desire to attack Western governments… While specific details about Sarvar’s background are still pending, his use of Arabic greetings hints at a cultural affiliation with the broader Muslim community.
Global News reported:
The Canadian Corps of Commissionaires is a national not-for-profit security provider and says it’s largest private sector employer of veterans. It released a statement Wednesday, saying the suspect was an employee but not assigned to work at city hall. “We are aware of the identity of the individual who was arrested by police and can confirm that he was an employee of the Corps of Commissionaires,” the statement said.