Valery Fabrikant, the former Concordia University professor who murdered four of his colleagues, has died in prison.
Fabrikant died Saturday at 86 at the Archambault Institution, around 50 kilometres north of Montreal, Correctional Service Canada said in a statement. He appears to have died of natural causes.
He was 33 years into a life sentence that he had been serving since June 1993.
On Aug. 24, 1992, Fabrikant shot Concordia University professors Michael Hogben, Matthew Douglass, Aaron Jaan Saber and Phoivos Ziogas. He also shot secretary Elizabeth Horwood, who survived.
During his trial and subsequent legal proceedings, Fabrikant opted to represent himself, claiming he had been “provoked” into shooting his colleagues because his life was in danger. Several judges dismissed his claims as baseless.
This report will be updated.
With files from The Gazette’s Paul Cherry.