‘He was not a violent person:’ Aaron Driver’s former lawyer on suspected terrorist threat

Aaron Driver’s former lawyer, Leonard Tailleur, said he is in shock about the 24-year-old’s recent death and suspect terrorist attack.

Driver was the terrorism suspect killed in a confrontation with police Wednesday in Strathroy, Ont. It was reported Driver was attempting to carry out a terrorist attack in a major Canadian city by means of a suicide detonation of an explosive device.

READ MORE: Email says Aaron Driver’s potential terrorist attack would have caused ‘mass casualties’

Tailleur said he last spoke with Driver in February and he had no indication by anyone he was “problematic”.

“He was very passive and not aggressive. I am shocked by this,” Tailleur said. “He was not a violent person at all and had no criminal record”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "He was very passive and not aggressive. I am shocked by this," Tailleur said. "He was not a violent person at all and had no criminal record"

On June 4, 2015, Driver was first arrested in Winnipeg for suspected terrorist threats, including a message on social media that praised the attack on Parliament Hill in October 2014 by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.

READ MORE: In his own words: Aaron Driver previously spoke out on religion, terrorism

Tailleur, argued in a November 2015 court appearance that Driver was not a risk.

LISTEN: Aaron Driver’s former lawyer said he is in shock about his death

“The fact of the matter is the police, RCMP and Federal Department of Justice would have thought the same thing too. Because if they thought it was well beyond this, I am sure they would have laid a charged on the criminal code and charged him with terrorism,” Tailleur said.

In February 2015, Driver was given a peace bond, which meant he had to abide by a number of conditions in his home in Ontario. Some of them included not using a computer, cellphone and social media.

“I told him he would be under surveillance for the rest of his life,” Tailleur said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I told him he would be under surveillance for the rest of his life," Tailleur said.

WATCH: Aaron Driver released with peace bond conditions 

READ MORE: Winnipeg terrorism suspect agrees to a peace bond

He said Driver previously had a psychological assessment that was given to the Department of Justice and there was no indication of psychosis or anti-social personality disorders.

Tailleur said he finds it odd how quickly the confrontation between police and Driver developed Wednesday. He said if there was any inappropriate behaviour with the peace bonds, Driver would have been charged.

“I would be very curious to find out if the RCMP had been monitoring and he had been breaching, but they didn’t breach him.”