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One of the men accused of creating an anti-government militia appears to have used a commercial sand quarry in the Quebec City area as a makeshift firing range.
CBC’s visual investigations unit has geolocated images posted to Raphaël Lagacé’s Facebook pages where he poses with multiple high-calibre sniper rifles. The images were taken at a quarry in Saint-Joachim, Que.
The quarry is owned by Les Entreprises LT Ltée/Béton Lagacé. It overlooks the St-Lawrence River and is just south of Mont-Sainte-Anne, a ski resort.
In photos, Lagacé appears at the quarry with numerous rifles. Excavation equipment is visible in the background of some of the photos. Lagacé wears ear protection and lies prone, with his hands wrapped around the rifles, aiming at a target off-camera.
In the photos and other videos that CBC News has verified as being filmed at the quarry complex, it is not clear if Lagacé is firing the weapons, but there are boxes of ammunition positioned near the weapons.
In posts on his Instagram account, Lagacé said he was training for an “extreme long-range” shooting competition.
In another video posted to Lagacé’s Facebook in 2013, he does fire at a target located in a sandpit. CBC News was unable to verify if that video was taken at the same quarry. The force of the gunshot shakes the camera, and a man uses an expletive off-camera when the gun is fired.
CBC does not know the context in which these photos and videos were filmed.
Lagacé has been charged with facilitating terrorist activity. The RCMP allege he and three other men hoarded weapons, engaged in military-style training and intended to forcibly take possession of land in the Quebec City area.
An RCMP news release issued Tuesday included a photograph showing a group of men engaged in “military-style training” that was taken in a quarry.
CBC News was unable to confirm if the quarry in the RCMP photo was located at the Les Entreprises LT Ltée/Béton Lagacé location, but the company’s sand quarry site is extensive.
Les Entreprises LT Ltée/Béton Lagacé declined requests for comment and declined to answer questions, including whether there is a familial connection between the company and Lagacé.
A woman who answered the phone at Les Entreprises LT Ltée/Béton Lagacé said “no comment would be made. No response to any question.” Yannick Lagacé, one of the shareholders of Béton Lagacé, said he would not comment.
Here is how we found the exact location of Lagacé’s social media posts:
First, CBC reporters found, and confirmed, his social media profiles. Then, a scan of his Facebook feed revealed multiple images featuring LT Ltée/Béton Lagacé trucks and machinery.
A search of the company’s website revealed that they operated multiple quarries in the Quebec City area. We tried to see if any of these quarries matched the locations where Lagacé appeared to be handling his weapons. We knew from the photographs that we were looking for a sandy area and, in some photographs, background hills and a river were visible.
One of the company’s quarries was located on a hill, advertised on their website as having a vantage point over the north shore of the St-Lawrence River.
Using Google Earth and satellite imagery, we scanned the quarry and matched the terrain features to the features behind Lagacé.
Then, in another video posted to Lagacé’s Facebook, we see a man handling a rifle. Again, we see features that seem to indicate a quarry.
This time, the video is taken from a different angle, and, in the background, we see Mont-Sainte-Anne, the ski resort.
Again, using Google Earth, we matched that same angle of the ski hill to the quarry.
The four men appeared in court virtually on Tuesday and remain in custody. Their next court date is July 14.