The Concordia University massacre was a
school shooting
A school shooting is an attack at an educational institution, such as a primary school, secondary school, high school or university, involving the use of firearms. Many school shootings are also categorized as mass shootings due to multiple c ...
on August 24, 1992 in which
Valery I. Fabrikant, an associate professor of
mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
, killed four colleagues and wounded a staff member at
Concordia University
Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...
in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, Canada. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Overview
Perpetrator
Fabrikant was a
mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
associate professor who had worked at Concordia University for 13 years. He had begun as a technician, and long demonstrated disruptive behaviour against students, staff members and other academics, described as ranging from "undesirable to intolerable", with which the university had struggled to deal. One student claimed in a 1982 filed police report that he had raped her and dislocated her shoulder.
In addition, he had presented academic challenges in teaching and supervision. As early as 1989, two people reported him saying, "I know how people get what they want, they shoot a lot of people."
[John Scott Cowan, ''Lessons from the Fabrikant File: A Report to the Board of Governors of Concordia University''](_blank)
, May 1994, Concordia University Records Management and Archives, accessed 4 April 2012
Relations between Fabrikant and the University became increasingly strained in late 1991 and the spring of 1992. Colleagues became alarmed after he turned his aggression against them. After being denied
tenure
Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...
, Fabrikant charged members of the engineering department with questionable financial dealings and improper credit for research work. Because of his unacceptable behaviour in addition to the charges, he faced dismissal on grounds of intimidation and harassment of fellow staff members. He was also under a contempt of court charge for behavior in a lawsuit against colleagues regarding credit on professional articles.
Incident
On August 24, Fabrikant entered the Engineering department at Concordia with three guns and ammunition in his briefcase. In his shooting rampage on the ninth floor of the
Henry F. Hall Building
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, he killed Electrical and Computer Engineering Departmental Chair Phoivos Ziogas and professors Matthew Douglass, Michael Hogben, and Aaron Jaan Saber (known as Jaan Saber). Fabrikant wounded Elizabeth Horwood, a departmental staff secretary.
None of the victims were personally involved in the controversy which Fabrikant had started.
Fabrikant was charged with murder and assault, convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He was denied parole in 2015.
Events
Around 2:30 p.m. on Monday, August 24, 1992, Fabrikant walked onto the ninth floor of the
Henry F. Hall Building
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. He was carrying a briefcase that contained three handguns (a
snub-nosed Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American firearm manufacturer headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States.
Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the "Smith & Wesson Revolver Company" in 1856 ...
.38-calibre 5-shot revolver, a German-made
6.35mm Meb pistol with a 6-round magazine, and an Argentinian-made
7.65mm pistol with an 8-round magazine) and a large amount of ammunition.
First he went looking for Dean of Engineering and Computer Science Srikanta Swamy and M.O.M (Sam) Osman (the chair of the mechanical engineering department). Neither were present. Next, he headed to his own office where he was scheduled to meet Michael Hogben, the president of the Concordia University Faculty Association (CUFA). According to police, Hogben attempted to give Fabrikant a letter setting out the conditions under which he would be allowed to visit the CUFA offices. The letter noted Fabrikant's access would be restricted because his behaviour was causing those who worked there "considerable distress". Fabrikant took out his
.38 calibre pistol and shot Hogben three times. Hogben fell to the floor and died shortly thereafter.
A faculty colleague, Aaron Jaan Saber, called out from his office nearby. Fabrikant crossed the hall and fired two shots into Saber, who died in the hospital the next day. Back in the hall, heading back to Osman's office again, he fired at Elizabeth Horwood, wounding her in the thigh. Fabrikant worked his way through the ninth floor corridors to the other side of the building and into the office of Phoivos Ziogas (chair of the electrical and computer-engineering department), who was talking with colleague Otto Schwelb. Fabrikant shot Ziogas twice; he died in hospital a month later. He scuffled with Schwelb, who took control of the pistol. Unaware that Fabrikant had two other guns in his briefcase, Schwelb went back to tend the injured Ziogas.
Urgences-santé force led by Paramedic Assistant Chief Anthony DiMonte coordinated with Police with new protocols learnt from the 1989
University of Montreal shooting.
Matthew Douglass (a professor of civil engineering known to be close to Dean Swamy), tried to reason with Fabrikant when he arrived at the dean's office. Fabrikant shot him four times, and Douglass died almost instantly.
Fabrikant took a security guard and another professor (George Abdou) hostage, locked himself in an office, and called an emergency operator. He said he had just committed several murders and wanted to talk to a TV reporter. He stayed on the line for an hour. When he briefly put his gun down to adjust the phone, Abdou kicked it away and the security guard overpowered him.
[
]
Aftermath
The university commissioned two Independent Committees of Inquiry to investigate aspects of the August events. In addition, it established task forces to work on internal policy and procedures. In April 1994, the Independent Committee of Inquiry into Academic and Scientific Integrity, headed by
H. W. Arthurs, former president of
York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...
, presented their report, entitled ''Integrity in Scholarship'' (informally known as the ''Arthurs Report''). It noted issues at Concordia and other production-driven research institutions. It stated: "We have confirmed the validity of a number of Dr. Fabrikant's more specific allegations" about financial mismanagement and questions about scholarship practices such as article attribution. The report noted that Fabrikant's allegations were not motivated by concern for the public good, however. Instead, they were the "ultimate revenge" of a desperate man who had already tried blackmail and threats against officials.
An independent review was conducted by
John Scott Cowan, former faculty association president and former vice-president (administration) of the
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...
, who was commissioned to study Fabrikant's employment history and related human-resource issues at Concordia University. He documented years of behavioural problems by Fabrikant. In addition, he identified problems common to university environments, where disruptive behaviour has sometimes been excused under the mantle of academic freedom and because many of the academics involved had little experience as managers. He noted that often academic administrators were not comfortable as managers and needed additional training as reported in May 1994 on ''Lessons from the Fabrikant File'' (also known as the ''Cowan Report''). His report included recommendations for how the university could improve its internal communication and management of academics and departments.
In their investigation of academic credentials, a journalist team from the ''Montreal Gazette'' discovered that Fabrikant was not a political dissident as he had claimed. Instead, he had emigrated from the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
after having been fired from a succession of posts for his threatening and disruptive behaviour.
As a result, Concordia University made a number of changes to its ethics rules and administrative procedures to improve operations, the integrity of scholarship, and management of faculty and staff. In addition, it established conflict-resolution workshops and resources. The university fired Fabrikant 17 days after the rampage.
Fabrikant is serving his sentence at Archambault Prison in Sainte-Anne-Des-Plaines,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
. He was denied parole in 2015 and again in 2022.
Legal proceedings
During his trial, Fabrikant came across as petty, vindictive, unrepentant and vain along with being rude and hostile to the judges, whom he called a "low little crook" and even had the same attitude aimed at the psychiatrists who testified on whether he was sane enough for the proceedings to continue.
During the trial Fabrikant acted as his own lawyer and called 75 witnesses for his defense, but in the end it only took the jury seven hours to find him guilty of four charges of first degree murder, attempted murder, and two hostage charges.
This legal decision has not stopped him from seeking legal challenges to the courts decision in 1993 and in 2011 a Superior Court judge dismissed a suit by Fabrikant against his colleagues that had been filed in 1992.
He has filed so many lawsuits while behind bars that Canadian courts have declared him a "
vexatious litigant
Vexatious litigation is legal action which is brought solely to harass or subdue an adversary. It may take the form of a primary frivolous lawsuit or may be the repetitive, burdensome, and unwarranted filing of meritless motions in a matter which ...
" and his computer access while in prison is limited.
Legacy
* Four large granite study tables were placed in the foyer of the Hall Building as a memorial to the slain professors. A nearby wall plaque commemorates the event.
* Concordia's Board of Governors had earlier adopted a policy banning firearms on the university campus. After Fabrikant's murders, the university joined the Coalition for Gun Control and gathered signatures for a petition calling for tougher national gun laws. In March 1994 Concordia representatives presented members of
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
with a 200,000-signature petition to ban the private ownership of handguns in Canada.
["The Fabrikant Affair"](_blank)
, 24 August 1992, Concordia University Records Management and Archives, accessed 4 April 2012
* In addition, the university adopted new rules governing financial accountability and scientific integrity, improvements in process at the time of the August 1992 events. The Internal Audit function was also restructured.
"The Fabrikant Affair"
, 24 August 1992, Concordia University Archives, accessed 4 April 2012
* In 1995 the university adopted "The Code of Rights & Responsibilities" and named an Advisor on the Code. It set out standards of conduct for all members of the University. Further work was done on a new code of ethics, resulting in a partial version of "The Code of Ethics: Guidelines for Ethical Actions" being adopted in 1995. The full version was adopted in 1997.
* The university created initiatives related to civil behaviour and conflict resolution, including the ''Peace and Conflict Resolution Series'' that began in 2003.
*Morris Wolfe's 2002 article on the events won a Canadian Association of Journalists Award for Investigative Journalism.
See also
*List of massacres in Canada
This is a list of events in Canada and its predecessors that are commonly characterized as ''massacres''. ''Massacre'' is defined in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "the indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people or (less commonly) anim ...
References
External links
H.W. Arthurs, Chair; Roger A. Blais, and Jon Thompson, ''Integrity in Scholarship: A Report to Concordia University''
April 1994, Concordia University Archives
John Scott Cowan, ''Lessons from the Fabrikant File: A Report to the Board of Governors of Concordia University''
May 1994, Concordia University Archives
based on earlier articles by Wolfe published in ''Saturday Night'', ''Actualité'' and ''Lingua Franca''
IEEE Biography of Dr. Phoivos Ziogas
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Mass murder in 1992
Concordia University
Crime in Montreal
Deaths by firearm in Quebec
Massacres in Canada
School killings in Canada
University and college shootings
1990s in Montreal
1992 in Quebec
School shootings in Canada
Murder in Quebec
August 1992 events in Canada
Spree shootings in Canada
1992 murders in Canada
Mass shootings in Canada