TORONTO — Canadian investigators were digging Tuesday into the life of the 29-year-old man who opened fire on restaurants and cafes in a popular Toronto neighborhood, seeking to explain what prompted the rampage that killed a 10-year-old girl and a young woman and wounded 13 others. Investigators in Canada have indications that Faisal Hussain visited Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) websites and may have expressed support for the terrorist group, a law enforcement source told CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton.
Investigators are looking into whether Hussain may have lived at one time in Afghanistan and possibly Pakistan, the source said. There is no indication that Hussain was directed by ISIS to carry out the attack.
“At this stage, based on the state of the investigation, which is led by the Toronto police service, there is no connection between that individual and national security,” Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Tuesday.
The assailant’s family has said he suffered from psychosis and depression for years but they never imagined he would do such a thing. It was not immediately clear whether he took his own life or was killed by police during the attack Sunday night.
The mass shooting in Toronto’s Greektown neighborhood stunned people in a normally safe city, already unsettled by an attack just three months ago when a man used a van to plow over pedestrians on a downtown sidewalk, killing 10 people and injuring 14 in an attack apparently aimed at women.
A statement from Hussain’s relatives said he had lifelong “severe mental health challenges.” They said medications did not help him and the interventions of professionals were unsuccessful.