Journal tomhudson's Journal: Unfortunately my old school is the top news story tonight .. 6
About the only good thing about this is that the nut-job was shot dead by a police officer on the scene. I don't want to sound cruel, but I think that's the way a lot of people are going to see it.
The police are understandably being pretty closed-mouth about the killers' identity, since they have to inform any relatives.
http://www.news1130.com/news/national/article.jsp?content=n0913103A
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Twenty people wounded in shootings at Montreal's Dawson College
13, 2006 - 4:23 pm
By: DENE MOORE AND ALEXANDER PANETTA
MONTREAL (CP) - A trenchcoat-clad gunman turned a college cafeteria into a combat zone Wednesday with a commando-style assault that left the suspect and a young woman dead.
The man, dressed in black and sporting a Mohawk haircut, burst into Dawson College in downtown Montreal early in the afternoon and went on a shooting rampage that injured 20 people and caused widespread panic.
Montreal police said one young woman died but gave no details.
Police Chief Yvan Delorme said the gunman died but he did not specify whether he was shot by police or killed himself.
At least eight of the 20 wounded were listed in critical condition, according to the Montreal General Hospital.
Although early reports suggested there could have been several suspects, police said there was only one.
"For now, I am limiting it to one suspect who died after a police intervention on site," Delorme told a news conference.
Witnesses described the suspect as a man in his early 20s who entered the school with a menacing scowl and stayed focused on shooting throughout the rampage.
Student Andrea Barone said he was sitting in the cafeteria with his girlfriend and some friends when he heard shots ring out.
"At first I thought it was a firecracker," said Barone, 17. "Then I turned around and I saw him. He was dressed in a black trenchcoat and I saw his hand firing a handgun in every direction."
Barone said all the students hit the floor to take cover.
He said a police officer then emerged from a corner next to the cafeteria and fired on the gunman. The shot missed.
Students were trapped as five or six more police officers showed up, taking cover behind a wall. The gunman backed up against a vending machine as the officers surrounded him.
Barone said it was like a running battle with five or six shots fired in both directions every minute but he said the officers were hesitant to move in because of the students.
He said every time police fired a shot or approached the gunman, he yelled, 'Get back, get back.'
The officers then helped the students leave the cafeteria, crawling out on their bellies along a wall.
Barone said as they were crawling out toward an exit they saw a girl who had been shot in the torso and who was face down surrounded by a pool of blood.
He said officers told them: 'Don't look, don't look. Keep going out.'
Delorme did not give details of the gunfire exchange between police and the suspect.
He also said he did not know the gender of the victims and he dismissed suggestions that race or terrorism played a role.
"There's no information that leads us to believe that it's something other than what happened at the scene."
The streets around the school filled with hysterical students in the minutes and hours after the shooting.
Devansh Shri Vastava said he was in the college's cafeteria when a man dressed in black combat clothing stormed in and began shooting at people.
"He had a laser gun or something, a big rifle, and he just started shooting at people," he said.
"We all ran upstairs. There were cops firing. It was so crazy. I was terrified. The guy was shooting at people randomly. He didn't care he was just shooting at everybody. I just got out."
Derick Osei, 19, said he also saw the gunman.
"I just got out of class and I was walking down the stairs," Osei said.
"He had one of them SWAT army guns and just started shooting up the place. I ran up to the third floor and I looked down and he was still shooting. He was hiding behind the vending machines and he came out with a gun.
Osei said he saw a girl shot in the leg before he ran upstairs to escape.
"At first he was shooting around the caf and he looked up and saw there were people on the third floor and he started aiming for the third floor. I thought 'I am not trying to get shot so I got out.'"
The shootings recalled Marc Lepine's murderous rampage at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique school on Dec. 6, 1989, when he opened fire and ended up killing 14 women.
Another shooting in Montreal occurred in Montreal in 1992 when Concordia University professor Valery Fabrikant killed four colleagues.
Ann Lynch, chief of clinical operations at Montreal General Hospital, said 11 patients were brought in, eight in critical condition. Less critically wounded were taken to three other area hospitals as well.
Lynch said none of the patients was in danger of death.
"The nature of the injuries are all gunshot wounds to the abdomen, to the chest, one head injury and also several to the limbs, peripheral limbs, arms and legs."
Lynch said the weapon was not high-calibre.
"At this point we are certainly watching all the patients extremely carefully and certainly the team will be doing its utmost for each and every one of those patients."
Lynch said the emergency room was a steady stream of red-eyed students looking for information about friends.
The hospital had a team of social workers providing support to family members.
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the shootings a "cowardly and senseless act."
"Our primary concern right now is to ensure the safety and recovery of all those who were injured during this tragedy," Harper said in a statement.
"On behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians, our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and their loved ones, and to the students and staff of the college who are all victims of this terrible tragedy."
Raamias Hernandez, 19, said he had just finished his class at Dawson on Wednesday when everybody started running.
He said he started to take pictures on a camera phone with his friend and the suspect saw them and started shooting.
TV footage showed people being whisked away on stretchers from the building, which is near the old Montreal Forum downtown.
People were also evacuated from two nearby shopping malls and several blocks were cordoned off by police.
The shootings disrupted traffic in and around the area and also led to the closure of several subway stations for several hours.
Dawson is a junior college which is attended by students after Grade 11 because there is no Grade 12 or 13 in Quebec. The institution is home to about 10,000 students who are usually enrolled in a two-year pre-university program or a three-year technical program.
In Quebec City, Premier Jean Charest called it a sad day.
"We are deeply saddened for the victims, the families, the parents of the children who study at Dawson," said Charest, who was headed for Montreal.
School officials said the college will remain closed until Monday.
What is it with Montreal? (Score:2)
CBC says the drug squad was on campus on an unrelated matter and officers were on scene in minutes, which likely contributed to the low body count. He injured a lot of people, but while tragic that a young woman lost her life, going by the standards of the earlier Montreal incide
Best Line (Score:2)
With the media trying to make this into some sensational event, I certainly appreciate the police's level-headed response. Basically "It is what it is... stop trying to turn it into something it's not."
Re: (Score:2)
Slightly off (Score:1)
This is horrible, wherever it happens.
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps they were referring to shootings in general. *Any* sort of shooting is news up here, or at least it used to be that way ... there's been an increased flow of illegal handguns into Canada from the US, brought in mostly by truckers who want to make a few extra bucks. This has caused a lot of problems in the Toronto area, for example.