What happened in the weeks leading up to random Maple Leaf Foods stabbing?
In the seven weeks before Matthew McLean randomly stabbed two women in the cafeteria of Maple Leaf Foods, the 39-year-old was increasingly angry and inappropriate with co-workers at the Glanbrook facility. According to his human resources records shared with St. Josephs West 5th Campus, where he remains, his behaviour became so problematic he was suspended for five days this January and began anger-management classes. He had completed two classes and was scheduled for more, but never got the chance. The intervention was not enough to tackle the mounting psychiatric issues that culminated around 4 a.m. on Feb. 25. In the cafeteria, he grabbed 19-year-old Eimy Novoa-Urrego by the hair and stabbed her eight times all over her body. He then turned on 49-year-old Alhan Khamo, who was stabbed repeatedly in the stomach and again in the shoulder when she fell to the floor. This week, on June 9, Ontario Court Justice Bernd Zabel found McLean not criminally responsible of two counts of aggravated assault because of mental illness. It means hes not guilty, but will remain in hospital as long as the Ontario Review Board sees fit. He has no criminal record. The decision was jointly recommended by both the Crown and the defence, based on the expert opinion of Dr. Maaz Usmani. He diagnosed McLean with delusional disorder, which Usmani said had been growing for more than a year. McLean became fixated on irrational beliefs that people at work were out to get him, including fear hed be locked in the industrial oven and that employees were trying to run him off the road outside work. McLean has suffered chronic health issues throughout his life, but had never previously been diagnosed with a mental illness. However, beginning in February 2020, his former partner reached out to McLeans family doctor to express concerns about his behaviour. On Sept. 25 she submitted a request for a Form 2 under the Mental Health Act, which, if granted, would require police to take him to hospital or to a doctor for examination. It was denied by a justice of the peace. In a statement, Maple Leaf Foods said the attack at their Heritage Plant on Glover Road in Hamilton has devastated the victims, their families and profoundly impacted the team. They respect the courts decision. McLean has not worked for Maple Leaf since the attack. The details reported from court (do) not fully reflect the actions we took to respond to the concerns that were raised and the challenges Mr. McLean faced as we understood them at the time, we did take many actions based on the information we had.  It would not be appropriate for us to go into those details for privacy reasons, the statement said. Maple Leaf is providing support for employees through its employee and family assistance program and additional security. They are reviewing the facts in this case, they said. According to the psychiatric assessment report, in the six years he worked as a smokehouse machine operator, McLean had 15 disciplinary incidents. The initial eight incidents, between April 2015 and October 2020, were mostly to do with poor work performance, such as forgetting to lock a machine. But something shifted at the start of 2021. On Jan. 6, he was wandering around work with a knife, acting erratically, ripping down signs and being rude to co-workers. He was suspended for five days for this incident. On Jan. 25, he was cited for being disruptive and yelling at co-workers. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... The next day, Jan. 26, he was behaving inappropriately toward co-workers and refusing to follow directions. On Feb. 12, he tried to grab a member of the cleaning staff, who said there was a history of him being rude to her. On Feb. 17, he was aggravated about a clothespin placed by cleaning staff and yelled. That same day, eight days before the attack, he also made a female cleaning staff employee feel uncomfortable with how he was looking at her.  Novoa-Urrego was also a member of cleaning staff. In her victim impact statement, she said she doesnt know what the future holds as shes unable to return to work. Among her lasting physical injuries, three fingers are paralyzed in her right hand, making simple tasks difficult. She is right-handed. She also has trouble sitting and bending. I feel people see cleaner persons as nobody, she said. I feel discriminated and I dont know what else I can do for work.  In court Crown attorney Janet Booy asked whether the victims were targeted because they are women and visible minorities (McLean is white). There is no evidence they were sought out. McLean did not know Novoa-Urrego, but that day he thought she was grinning at him and that he was the brunt of a joke about dead bodies. McLean did know Khamo as a kind woman who would say a friendly hello in the hallway. He told police he didnt realize it was her at the time of the stabbing. Usmani said part of McLeans delusion was the thought that foreign or unionized workers were pushing him out of his job. Maple Leaf Foods said its working both to destigmatize mental illness, while also ensuring the safety of employees. It is an extraordinarily difficult balancing act, the company said.