Marc Lépine

Marc Lépine (October 26, 1964 – December 6, 1989), born Gamil Gharbi, was a 25-year-old man from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He murdered fourteen women and wounded ten women and four men at the École Polytechnique, an engineering school affiliated with the Université de Montréal, in "the Montreal Massacre", also known as "the École Polytechnique massacre".

Childhood and upbringing
Lépine was born Gamil Rodrigue Gharbi, the son of Algerian immigrant Rachid Liass Gharbi and Canadian Monique Lépine, in Montreal and was baptized a Catholic as an infant. He spent much of his early childhood in Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, where his father was working as a successful mutual fund salesman. The family moved back to Montreal permanently in 1968, shortly before a stock market crash led to the loss of much of the family's assets. Gamil's father had contempt for women and believed that they were only intended to serve men. He was verbally and physically abusive to his wife and children, once beating his son so hard on the face that the marks were visible a week later. He discouraged tenderness between mother and child, as he considered it spoiling.

When Gamil was seven, his parents separated and were subsequently divorced in 1976. He lived with his mother and younger sister Nadia, seeing little of their father, of whom they were afraid. Rachid Gharbi subsequently ceased contact with his children and moved abroad.

In 1973, Monique Lépine returned to work as a nurse, and began further courses to advance her career. During this time the children lived with family and friends, seeing their mother at the weekends. The family spent a year in family psychotherapy in 1975 because of difficulties expressing and receiving love and affection.

Adolescence
In 1976, Monique Lépine became director of nursing at a Montreal hospital, and the family bought and moved to a house in the middle-class Montreal suburb of Pierrefonds. Gamil attended junior high and high school where he was described as a quiet student who obtained middle to above average marks. He developed a close friendship with another boy, but did not mix much with other students. Gamil spent some summers as a youth learning to hunt with his uncles, and also enjoyed designing and building electronic gadgets. He took considerable responsibility at home, including doing cleaning and repairs while his mother worked. During this time he began to insist on being called Marc Lépine, giving his hatred of his father as the reason for wishing to take his mother's name.

He applied to join the Canadian Forces in 1981 at the age of 17, but was rejected during the interview process. He reported in his suicide letter that it was because he was "anti-social". An official statement from the military after the massacre stated that he had been "interviewed, assessed and determined to be unsuitable".

Adulthood
Gharbi legally changed his name to Marc Lépine in 1982 at the age of 18, and the family moved to Saint-Laurent, closer to his mother's work and to his new CEGEP (college). He quickly lost touch with his schoolfriend after the move. This period marks the beginning of the seven years which he described in his suicide note as having "brought [him] no joy".

Lépine began a two year pre-university course in pure sciences at CEGEP Saint-Laurent, failing some courses in the first semester but improving his grades considerably in the second. After a year he switched from the university-destined science program into electronics technology, a three-year technical program geared more towards immediate employment. His teachers remembered him as being a model student, quiet, hardworking and generally doing well in his classes, particularly those related to electrotechnology. However, in February 1986, during the last term of the program, he suddenly and without explanation stopped attending his classes, as a result failing to complete his CEGEP diploma.

Lépine took a job in the kitchens at the hospital where his mother was director of nursing. He was seen as nervous and hyperactive by his colleagues. He moved out of his mother's home into his own apartment and in the fall of 1986, he applied to study engineering at the École Polytechnique at the Université de Montréal. He was admitted on the condition that he complete two compulsory courses, including one in solution chemistry.

In the fall of 1987 he left his job at the hospital and took three courses at CEGEP obtaining good marks in all his courses. In March 1988 he began a course in computer programming at a private college in downtown Montreal, funding his studies with government student loans. Two months later he moved downtown to an apartment near his place of study and his mother's new condominium.

In the winter of 1989 Lépine took a CEGEP night-course in solution chemistry, a prerequisite course for the École Polytechnique. In March 1989 he abandoned the course in computer programming, but did well in the CEGEP course, obtaining 100% in his final exam.

Massacre
In August 1989, Lépine picked up an application for a firearms-acquisition certificate and received his permit in mid-October. On November 21, 1989, Lépine purchased a Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle at a local sporting goods store. During the period October to December 1989, Lépine was seen at least seven times at the École Polytechnique. He brought his mother a present four days before the shooting, though it was several weeks before her birthday. He had always been very punctual paying his rent, but did not do so in December 1989.

On December 6, 1989, Lépine walked into the École Polytechnique de Montréal. There, he entered a second-floor classroom where he separated the men and women and then ordered the approximately fifty men to leave. Claiming that he was fighting feminism, he shot the nine women who remained, killing six and injuring the rest. After this, Lépine moved to other areas of the building, including the cafeteria, corridors and another classroom. A total of fourteen women (twelve engineering students, one nursing student, and one university employee) were killed, and four men and ten women injured before Lépine turned the gun on himself.

A three-page letter (see below) was found in the pocket of his jacket. The letter was never officially made public, but was leaked in November 1990 to Francine Pelletier, and published in the newspaper La Presse. In his suicide letter, Lépine claimed political motives, blaming feminists for ruining his life. He considered himself rational and expressed admiration for Denis Lortie, who had mounted an attack on the Quebec National Assembly in 1984 for political reasons, killing three Quebec government employees. The letter also contained a list of nineteen Quebec women whom Lépine apparently wished to kill because of their feminism.

Marc Lépine was buried in the Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Montreal, a few blocks from where he committed the massacre.

Women murdered



 * Geneviève Bergeron (b. 1968), civil engineering student.
 * Hélène Colgan (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
 * Nathalie Croteau (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
 * Barbara Daigneault (b. 1967) mechanical engineering student.
 * Anne-Marie Edward (b. 1968), chemical engineering student.
 * Maud Haviernick (b. 1960), materials engineering student.
 * Maryse Laganière (b. 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department.
 * Maryse Leclair (b. 1966), materials engineering student.
 * Anne-Marie Lemay (b. 1967), mechanical engineering student.
 * Sonia Pelletier (b. 1961), mechanical engineering student.
 * Michèle Richard (b. 1968), materials engineering student.
 * Annie St-Arneault (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
 * Annie Turcotte (b. 1969), materials engineering student.
 * Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (b. 1958), nursing student.

Character
Marc Lépine was described as a shy and uncommunicative person who showed little emotion. He was very organized and precise, and had problems accepting authority which caused some difficulties at school and work. He did not drink or take drugs. Lépine was ill at ease around women, and had no known girlfriends. He tended to boss women around and show off his knowledge in front of them. He spoke out to others about his dislike of feminists, career women and women in traditionally male occupations, such as the police force.

A police psychiatrist who interviewed Lépine's family and entourage, and who had access to his letters, suggested that he may have had a serious personality disorder, as he chose the multiple homicide/suicide strategy (killing one’s self after killing others) that is a characteristic of this disorder. Other psychiatrists suggested that Lépine was psychotic, having lost touch with reality as he tried to erase the memories of a brutal (and absent) father, while at the same time unconsciously identifying with a violent manhood that dominates women. Other theories were that Lépine's experiences of abuse as a child had caused brain-damage or led him to feel victimized as he faced losses and rejections in his later life. Some wondered if his actions were the result of societal changes that had led to increased poverty, powerlessness, individual isolation or increased violence in the media and in society.

Lépine's suicide statement
The following is a translation of the suicide letter written by Lépine on the day of the shooting. The original French letter is also available.

The letter is followed by the list of nineteen names, with a note at the bottom:

Memorial
Canadians mark the day of the killings with a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.