Who is Richard Bain, the Parti Qubcois rally shooter?

Quebecers know Richard Bain as the man in the bathrobe who gunned down a man just outside the sovereignist Parti Qubcois electoral victory party the night of Sept. 4, 2012.

• RichardBainguilty of 2nd-degree murder in 2012 Quebec election-night shooting

If his gun hadn't jammed, Baincould havefired 30 roundsin less than a minute, then walkedmere metresfrom the backstage entranceto the platform where premier-designatePauline Marois was delivering her speech.

But the man who shouted aboutanglophone rights as he was led away in handcuffs wasunrecognizableto his friends and family.

CBC News tells the story with exclusive photos from Bain's family:

So what happened? Howdid he go from being "Rick,"the joker at workand beloved younger brother, to the murderer who madeplans to kill as many separatists as possible?

CBC News has alook at the life of Richard Bain and who he was before the deadly night at theMetropolis concert hall in downtown Montreal.

Playing hockey, growing up in Saint-Michel

RichardBainwasborn onSept. 8, 1950 and grew up in Montreal'sSaint-Michel neighbourhood,playing hockey and other sports with his two older brothers, David and Robert.

"It didn't matterif you were anglophone or francophone, we all played together," brother Robert Bainrecalled during court testimony.

They weren't a very religious family, although Richard Bain remembersgoing to an Anglican church once during his childhood.

Their father was the quiet type, he said he'd been severely wounded byshrapnel during World War Iand rarely spoke to his children or showed them affection.

"I saw his back once when I was a kid,Bainsaid in court.

"There was no flesh that hadn't been burnt. There was nothing but scar tissue."

The family patriarch was ill for most of the boys'childhood and retired at a young age. Hewas"not really there, he didn't come to our games with us," Baintold a court-appointedpsychiatrist.

It was left mostly up to his mother to raise Bainand his older brothers.

It was around the age of 23thatBainfirst took aninterest in hunting and firearms,which eventually grewinto a lifelong hobby.

His uncle owned a farm, and Bainloved to visit once a year tohunt groundhogs with his.22-calibrerifle.

He graduated to larger game in the 1970sand started to hunt deer and moose.

He loved to fish, too, and after his retirement, heturned it into a full-timebusiness.

'Rick' the foreman

In his 20s, Bainbecame a foreman at the CCR copper refining and processing plant in Montreal East.

• Richard Bain was 'one of the best foremen' at copper refinery

He stayed on for 33 years and was "one of the best,"according to an employee who testified duringthe trial.

"Rick" as he was known at work played on the company hockey leagueand wasnicknamed"grandma" because he was older than the other players.

Heenjoyed and even encouraged that type of teasing.

"If there was a party, I would be the clown," Bainsaid in his courttestimony.

2009: When it all unravelled

Richard Bainwas marriedto his work for most of his life, living withhis brother David and his mother in the family's home well into adulthood.

In the late 1980s, he metJocelyneRivest and found, in her, a long-term partner.

Theyeventuallybecame serious enoughto move in togetherand shared a homeinRepentigny, Que.

Rivest told police that while Bainwas sometimesstubborn and opinionated, he wasnever violent and, in fact, was very kind.

But it all changed in 2009.

Looking back now, friends and family pinpoint that year, when he retired from his job as a foreman,as a turning point.

"That's the year Richard went onCymbaltaand completely changed," brotherDavidsaid during the trial, referring to the medication prescribed to treat Bain's depression.

David Bain said his brotherbecame "like a hermit out in the bush."

During the H1N1 fluoutbreak in2009, Richard Bainbecame convinced the virus would bring about the downfall of society and world order

He broke off his 20-yearrelationship with Rivest andmovedfull-time to his remote cabin in La Conception, hoping to fulfil his dream of living by the lake and becominga fishing outfitter.

"She [Rivest] says it, and I say it to this day, that we would still be together if I had not been taking Cymbalta," he told the jury during the trial.

'I wish we could go back in time'

The man who had been a workaholicand rarely went out found himselfsingle anddropping hundreds of dollars a night on strippers, limousines and champagne.

Sometimes he'd pay strippers for sex, as well.

Things started to look up at the end of 2009, when Richard's familydoctor switched him to a newmedication.

By2012, Richardseemed tobe on the road to recovery, focusedon building up his fishing lodgebusiness, stocking the lake with rainbow trout.

It was paying offhe was hostingtourists from around the world.

Brothers David and Robertthought everything wasgoing so well.

Neither of them realized,when they saw the images of the PQrally shooterbeing led away in handcuffs on TV, that they were looking at their brother.

"I had no idea it was him at all. None,"Robert Baintold police.

"I couldn't believe he could do something like this. It's not in his nature."

Four years after thatdeadly night, Robert and David Bain are still struggling tounderstand what happened to their little brother.

"I still love him, but I wish we could go back in time," David Bain said, breaking down."I feel for him. I feel for the familyand friends of thevictims."

"It's tragic."