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From reverent silence to total chaos: how attack on Canadian parliament unfolded
Stillness of memorial shattered by shots, triggering frantic hunt as police chase gunman through parliament and MPs barricade doors
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 23 October, 2014, 10:33pm
UPDATED : Friday, 24 October, 2014, 1:22am
Agencies in Ottawa
Rescuers tend to the soldier shot at the war memorial. Photo: Reuters
Police pursue the gunman through the Centre Block of the Parliament buildings. Photo: Reuters
Police pursue the gunman through the Centre Block of the Parliament buildings. Photo: AP
The mother of the man accused of killing a soldier at Ottawa's war memorial then storming Parliament before being shot dead spoke to the media for the first time last night and revealed that she is crying for the victims of the shooting - not her son.
In a brief and tear-filled telephone interview, Susan Bibeau said she did not know what to say to those hurt in the attack.
"Can you ever explain something like this?" she said. "We are sorry."
Investigators offered little information about the gunman in Ottawa, identified as 32-year-old petty criminal Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.
Canadian police conceded that Zehaf-Bibeau was the lone gunman, the second attack in three days in what the prime minister described as terrorism.
Bibeau said she was devastated for the victims of the attack.
"If I'm crying it's for the people," she said, struggling to hold back tears.
"Not for my son."
Bibeau and her husband had earlier sent a lengthy email expressing horror and sadness at what happened.
"I am mad at my son," the email said, explaining that he seemed lost "and did not fit in".
"I spoke with him last week over lunch, I had not seen him for over five years before that," the email said. "So I have very little insight to offer."
Yesterday it was revealed that the man her son shot was 24-year-old reservist Corporal Nathan Cirillo. After the shooting his body lay limp in a huddle of paramedics as they battled to massage his heart back to life, with tourists and reporters looking on, and dozens of police descending.
He was picked up from a pavement that normally holds wreaths laid by Canadian dignitaries and honoured guests and loaded onto a stretcher.
Zehaf-Bibeau, had run off, and now the hunt was on.
Across Parliament Hill, the bluff overlooking the Ottawa River and the Rideau Canal that holds Canada's seat of government, all hell was breaking loose - police shouting, armoured cars rolling up.
Adam Vaughan, a member of the House of Commons, was in a staircase when he heard shots on the floor above. At first he thought the noise was nearby construction work, but then chaos erupted. "We heard all of the shots go off and there was a volley of shots that happened and I was underneath the hallway and I was immediately taken into a secure area and I have been in lockdown since."
Vaughan said two colleagues saw the shooter who stormed the building, one of the most world's most open legislatures, a symbol of parliamentary democracy.
They described the wandering assailant as a man with a long beard wearing a scarf and what might have been body armour.
Shots erupted, echoing off the stone walls of the Gothic palace. A bullet grazed one woman, a security officer was wounded, but the police were close behind.
The shooter came through the front entrance, up a few steps into the main lobby and beyond to the Hall of Honour and towards the library, the only original part of the building not destroyed by fire a century ago.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was meeting members of his party at a caucus meeting in a nearby room. He was hustled away to safety as officers from various forces drew their guns.
The Globe and Mail newspaper posted a video showing police advancing with their guns aimed as more than 20 loud bangs echoed through a hallway. A CTV reporter tweeted a photograph of lawmakers barricading the door to their caucus room with furniture.Lawmakers turned to Twitter to send messages to their friends and families letting them know they were safe albeit exhausted.
"Shots fired during caucus meeting. At least 30 shots. MPs piled out. I'm safe with two colleagues but we're still at risk," tweeted cabinet minister Tony Clement.
"PM [Harper] was in caucus but now secure. Assuming it's not safe to venture out yet," he said moments later.
There is a day care centre in the complex for children of parliamentarians, staff and media who work there. "Mom I'm okay I'm in hiding," Conservative Michelle Rempel tweeted soon after the shooting broke out. Liberal Sean Casey described joy at gaining access to toilets after some five hours: "SWAT team member just announced that the hallway adjacent to the room in which we are locked down is secure, and has a bathroom."
One staffer saw the gunman through the library glass doors - stout, wearing a hoody and brandishing a long gun like a shotgun.
Police yelled instructions, pulled some to safety in secured areas, sent others who could escape scurrying into the sunshine, over lawns and out of the complex to police barricades beyond.
Once clear of the building, the sounds of gunfire subsided but the rumour mill was roaring into life.
Shortly afterwards, police announced that the shooter was down, shot by police before he could kill again, and an unsettling silence descended.
Agence France-Presse, Reuters
