Canadian soldier killed as gunmen storm Ottawa capital complex

Fox News:

Multiple gunmen stormed the Canadian Parliament complex Wednesday, killing a soldier guarding the National War Memorial and spraying as many as 30 shots inside the government building in Ottawa in a brazen assault that left the nation’s capital on virtual lockdown just two days after a terror attack in Quebec, officials said.

The shots rang out just before 10 a.m., and were quickly followed by reports of “several shooting incidents in downtown Ottawa,” according to a tweet from police. The shooting at the government complex came after witnesses said they saw two men jump out of a Toyota Corolla and run toward the National War Memorial, where one opened fire on a soldier who later died. The gunmen then ran to the Parliament building, where witnesses later said they saw one gunman down near the library. Bernard Trottier, a Toronto-area MP, tweeted that the gunman inside Centre Block “has been shot and killed.” The other was reportedly being sought.

Veteran Affairs Minister Julian Fantino told QMI Agency that Parliament’s sergeant-at-arms, Kevin Vickers, shot one gunman dead.

“All the details are not in, but the sergeant-at-arms, a former Mountie, is the one that engaged the gunman, or one of them at least, and stopped this,” Fantino said from inside Centre Block. “He did a great job and, from what I know, shot the gunman and he is now deceased.”

The U.S. embassy was placed on lockdown following the shootings, said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.

“We are following the active shooter situation in Ottawa near the National War Memorial and Parliament,” Harf said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We have full confidence in Canadian law enforcement officials. [U.S. Secretary of State John] Kerry who’s on his plane on the way back from Berlin has been briefed on the situation and is following it closely.”

More shootings were reported less than a mile away from Parliament Hill, near Rideau Centre Mall, but police did not know if the incidents were related and said no arrests had been made.

“Most of downtown Ottawa is in lockdown,” said Ottawa police Constable Marc Soucy.

Ottawa police confirmed they were pursuing multiple shooters, but there were conflicting reports of how many were involved in the attack on nerve center of Canada’s federal government.

“We are still trying to clarify how many persons we are dealing with, and still waiting for the status of the victim who was shot at the War memorial,” says Ottawa Police Service spokesman Constable Chuck Benoit.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was whisked away to a safe location as Royal Canadian Mounted Police converged on the complex.

Harper “is safe and has left Parliament Hill,” Jason MacDonald, his director of communications, said via Twitter. Harper cancelled a trip to Toronto, where he was to present education activist Malala Yousafzai, of Pakistan with honorary Canadian citizenship. MacDonald said Harper was being briefed and would make a statement later Wednesday.

The Ottawa Sun identified the guard, who the CBC said later died at Civic Hospital, as a member of Hamilton’s Argylls of Canada – 91st Canadian Highlanders who were on tour guarding the memorial.

Witnesses told the Globe and Mail the Parliament Hill building was locked down and police ordered journalists to shelter in the foyer in front of the House of Commons. Members of Parliament also took cover in the building, tweeting from inside the building.

Michelle Rempel, a Conservative MP from Calgary, used Twitter to communicate with the outside world: “Mom im okay Im in hiding,” tweeted Michelle Rempel, a Conservative MP from Calgary.

Another MP, Democrat Hélène Laverdière, told CBC that she heard to 20 to 30 shots and hit the floor.

“There are currently active shooters in the Parliament Hill vicinity,” read an email sent out to the Prime Minister’s staff, according to Canada.com.

At the memorial, emergency responders were seen performing CPR on the shooting victim, believed to be one of the soldiers stationed around the clock at the memorial, Canada.com reported. The soldier’s name and condition were not available.

The drama unfolded just before 10 a.m., two days after two Canadian soldiers were run over — and one of them killed — in Quebec by a man with jihadist sympathies. And on Tuesday, Canada had raised its domestic terror level from low to medium due to “an increase in general chatter from radical Islamist organizations like ISIL, Al Qaeda, al-Shabab and others who pose a clear threat to Canadians,” said Jean-Christophe de Le Rue, a spokesman for the public safety minister.

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