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once asked if she would like to hang out after their weekly computer lessons, but all he wanted to do was watch violent movies on videotape — not exactly her cup of tea. The last time Sylvie ever saw him in person was a week and a half after their chemistry class had ended:
I had come away from there with a very strange feeling like I would never see him again, that I didn’t want to see him again and I didn’t. I told him I might call in the summer but I never did.… [He was] very strange, in a very hurried state, like someone with something very important on his mind. It was as though he had something to do that no one else could know about.… [20]
    Ultimately, Sylvie was accepted into the University of Quebec’s engineering program in the nearby city of Trois-Rivières. For his part, Lépine claimed he would be attending École Polytechnique for engineering in the autumn.
    Of all the people who knew Marc Lépine in the year leading up to the massacre, Érik Cossette probably had the closest view, once describing his roommate as “emotionally repressed.” He recalls witnessing Lépine flying into a rage after dropping a chicken on the floor. On another occasion, Lépine burnt some meat and punched a hole in the wall. Aside from these incidences, Cossette maintains that there was nothing particularly nefarious about his friend’s behaviour. The sexist remarks he made were “no more disturbing than what one hears from many men,” and Cossette chalked his fondness for gun magazines down to “an interest like any other.” [21] In fact, according to Cossette, Lépine had a number of good qualities: his insatiable intellectual curiosity for history, science, politics, and technology; his childlike fondness for cartoons; and his willingness to help out a friend. “Doing favours was his way of expressing his affection for people.”
    As the summer of 1989 came to a close, Érik left 2175 Bordeaux Street to backpack in South America, and was replaced by Lépine’s younger cousin Michel Thiery. On August 29, Lépine procured a firearms acquisition certificate application from the Sûreté du Quebec. He bumped into Isabelle Lahaie while exiting the SQ’s Montreal headquarters, and explained he was trying to obtain a gun for hunting. The application was filled out and in police hands, along with the customary $10 charge, by Labour Day, but due to the demand before hunting season, it wasn’t until mid-October that permit number AA2092373 bearing the name “Marc Lépine” appeared in his mailbox. Soon after, the gangly young man began appearing at Checkmate Sports on St. Hubert, inquiring about firearms. On the afternoon of November 21, Lépine finally purchased a semi- automatic Sturm Ruger Mini-14 with a banana clip capable of holding thirty bullets. Including the carrying case and five boxes of Remington .223 bullets — one hundred in total — his bill came to $765.03.
    “Ah, shit.” Lépine blushed. He had purchased the cheapest ammo available and was still short on cash. Leaving a $100 deposit, he hurried to the bank and returned in thirty minutes with the balance.
    Aside from his daytrips to the sporting goods store, Lépine lived the life of a recluse throughout the fall, routinely ordering grocery deliveries from the store across the street. Monique remembers that he brought her an early birthday present, and though he was uncomfortable with physical affection, told her, “You can kiss me.” Neighbours recall his chilling laughter in the middle of the night, cascading down from his bedroom window into the alleyway below.
    Autopsy
    By the time the zipper was closed on Marc Lépine’s body bag, fourteen innocent women lay dead, with another ten women and four men suffering injuries. The tragedy at École Polytechnique was followed by three official days of mourning in the province of Quebec. At Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica, a joint funeral was held for the nine victims of Roman Catholic faith, along