Andre Dallaire scaled the fence of the official residence in Ottawa and crept toward the bedroom where Prime Minister Jean Chretien lay asleep, a knife in his hand and murder on his mind. It was Aline Chretien who heard him first.
Acting fast, she pushed the heavy bedroom door shut and held it locked while Dallaire tried the handle from the other side, then slipped away to raise the alarm with security on this day in 1995. Guards arrested him minutes later, still inside the residence, and no one was harmed.
Dallaire was later found not criminally responsible for the break in due to a diagnosed mental illness, and was committed to psychiatric care rather than tried as a would be assassin.
