He had begun as a technician, and long demonstrated disruptive behaviour towards students, staff members and other academics, described as ranging from "undesirable to intolerable", with which the university had struggled to deal.
After being denied tenure, Fabrikant charged members of the engineering department with questionable financial dealings and improper credit for research work.
Because of his unacceptable behaviour in addition to the charges, he faced dismissal on grounds of the intimidation and harassment of fellow staff members.
Next, he headed to his own office where he was scheduled to meet Michael Hogben, the president of the Concordia University Faculty Association (CUFA).
According to police, Hogben attempted to give Fabrikant a letter setting out the conditions under which he would be allowed to visit the CUFA offices.
He worked his way through the ninth floor corridors to the other side of the building and into the office of Phoivos Ziogas (chair of the electrical and computer-engineering department), who was talking with colleague Otto Schwelb.
Urgences-santé forces, led by Paramedic Assistant Chief Anthony DiMonte, coordinated with police using new protocols learned from the 1989 Polytechnique shooting.
[1] Fabrikant took a security guard and another professor (George Abdou) hostage, locked himself in an office, and called an emergency operator.
It stated: "We have confirmed the validity of a number of Dr. Fabrikant's more specific allegations" about financial mismanagement and questions about scholarship practices such as article attribution.
[2] In their investigation of academic credentials, a journalist team from the Montreal Gazette discovered that Fabrikant was not a political dissident as he had claimed.
As a result, Concordia University made a number of changes to its ethics rules and administrative procedures to improve operations, the integrity of scholarship, and management of faculty and staff.
[4] During his trial, Fabrikant came across as petty, vindictive, unrepentant and vain, along with being rude and hostile to the judges, one of whom he called a "low little crook", and displayed the same attitude to psychiatrists who testified on whether he was sane enough for the proceedings to continue.
[7] He has filed so many lawsuits while behind bars that Canadian courts have declared him a "vexatious litigant" and his computer access while in prison is limited.