In 1984, he stormed into the Parliament Building in Quebec City and opened fire with several firearms, killing three government employees and wounding thirteen others.
The National Assembly's serjeant-at-arms, René Jalbert, volunteered himself to serve as a hostage, and conversed with Lortie for several hours before convincing him to surrender to authorities.
[3] At the time of the shooting, Lortie was posted to CFS Carp, near Ottawa, was ranked a corporal, and worked as a supply technician.
[3] On May 7, 1984, Lortie left the CFS Carp military base, pretending that he needed time off to arrange a divorce with his wife.
He was dressed in combat uniform and armed with two C-1 submachine guns, an Inglis pistol, a duffel bag containing four hundred rounds of 9 mm NATO ammunition, as well as a knife strapped to his leg.
He then went into a smoking room and shot and wounded a person there before moving to the cafeteria, but finally found his way into the Assembly Chamber, outside of which dozens of armed Sûreté du Québec (SQ) officers, as well as more than a dozen Groupe d'intervention operatives and Quebec City Police (many carrying M2 carbines), helicopters, and snipers were taking position.
Instead of wearing a watch, Lortie timed his attack by listening to CJRP and waited for host André Arthur to end his segment.
On that day, Arthur ended his broadcast 20 minutes early, leading Lortie to enter the building and make his way to the Assembly Chamber while it was mostly empty.
[5] For his actions, which likely prevented further death, Jalbert was awarded the Cross of Valour several months later, in the same National Assembly chamber that Lortie had burst into.
According to psychiatrist Pierre Mailloux, who was assigned to the case, Lortie had paranoid schizophrenia and had organized his crime during a psychotic episode, believing that he was acting on instructions given to him from God.
According to the Parole Board of Canada, Lortie no longer posed a threat to society, and "patched his life together despite being responsible for one of the most notorious events in Quebec history.
[7][8] Lortie was granted full parole in July 1996 and, as of 2007, was married, with a steady job and a house, and had reportedly been forthcoming with "the people who monitor his case".