CAF Story | Military Bravery Ends Knife Attack at Recruiting Center

Video / March 05, 2020

Transcript

(TOS) This video contains a re-enactment of violent events that may be upsetting to some viewers.

(CB) If somebody called me hero, I think I'd have a pretty hard time with that. I met other people that have done extremely fantastic things, more dangerous things than I did, more selfless things.

My name is Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Bressette and I'm a Weapons Engineering Technician Manager.

I just got back from deployment and then our chief comes into the office and asks me if I want to go to the recruiting centre. "Can I ask how much time I had?" He said: "About five minutes to make a decision." I called my wife and I made sure it was okay with her. Then, a few months later, I was in Toronto.

So March 14, 2016, at the recruiting centre. It was a Monday morning, so I was working at the front desk answering emails, answering people's phone calls. And then, kind of out of nowhere, Cpl Kong was sitting at the security desk. A man approached him and immediately started to punch him in the head and attack him. He was pretty big. He was probably 220, 6'2".

I jumped over the desk, yelled at him to stop. He had pulled a knife out, a foot long knife out of a folder and attacked Cpl Kong. I grabbed a chair and then started to bring attention towards me. He kind of ran past me, he saw some other members, he ran after them. I told a couple of other members to call 911. He actually tried to attack the back of Sgt Gerhardt's head with the knife and missed. And then, he turned around and actually stabbed MCpl Castillo in the stomach. He chased a few other members into the back, but they had secured themselves.

When he came out of that room, I tried to throw a garbage can at him, but it didn't really faze him. I threw the photocopier at him which knocked him down. Sgt Karistinos forced Ali down to the ground, and when that happened, the knife kind of came loose. We just secured the person until the police came.

Immediately after the actual incident happened, I was just kind of edgy. There's a few incidents where I was just uncomfortable and kind of had very quick reactions, so it's kind of building up my, bottling up, emotions. I just broke down to my wife one day. In Halifax, CFB Halifax, I walked into the 5th floor which is our mental health services area. And the person who talked to me, she kind of helped me get perspectives on what happened and find a way to kind of deal with it.

We're here to defend Canada, defend the people of Canada, and we did what we had to do. At the point where we disarmed him, at that point, there was no longer a threat. It's really up to the Canadian justice system, the Canadian government to ensure that he is prosecuted properly.

I think that speaks to Canadian values because it's us doing what's necessary to stop threat but not crossing that line. What makes us better than our enemies is that we try to keep that in mind. We're very lucky to be born in Canada, where we are, and have the opportunities we're given. And some of the people, even our enemies, they weren't given those opportunities.

(TOS) On June 13th 2019, P01 Charles Bressette, Mcpl Jesus Rodrigo Castillo, MCpl Kashif Dar, and Sgt Andrea Karistinos were awarded the Medal of Bravery for stopping the attacker.

(CB) We can still do what's required to complete the mission, but have a bit of empathy there at the same time.

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