Shooting at the Canadian Parliament

Via the BBC:  Shots fired inside Canada parliament

“Shots fired at War Memorial at 9:52am today; one person injured,” Ottawa Police tweeted on Wednesday as a witness reported seeing authorities search from room to room for the suspect.

The gunman fired on soldiers guarding Canada’s main war memorial and then ran into the parliament.

The situation is ongoing as of this posting.

Update:  CNN is reporting that the lone gunman is dead.

FILED UNDER: Guns and Gun Control, World Politics, , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Mikey says:

    I’ve been to Parliament Hill and the War Memorial a few times. From the photos I’ve seen so far, it appears the soldier who was shot was guarding Canada’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

    CBC News reports a gunman has been shot inside the Centre Block of Parliament–this is equivalent to our Capitol Building. Also apparently shots fired at the Rideau Centre, a shopping center a couple blocks down from Parliament Hill.

    Of course this is all still ongoing and as we know the initial reports are often inaccurate.

  2. DC Loser says:

    The Rideau Centre is used as a cut through for many employees of Canada’s National Defence Headquarters, their equivalent of the Pentagon, coming to and from work. So perhaps they were targeting military people in the Rideau Centre.

  3. MikeSJ says:

    At this time it’s unclear if there are multiple gunmen or just the lone shooter.

    Regardless if it’s one nutcase or multiple individuals my instant knee-jerk response to these situations is to wonder how much Saudi money, support or indoctrination is involved.

    We will see.

  4. DC Loser says:

    Let’s not forget the guy with the Jihadist leanings who ran over two Canadian soldiers in uniform in Quebec two days ago, killing one of them. Are these acts connected?

  5. Mikey says:

    CBC is reporting the soldier who was shot at the War Memorial, a Canadian Forces reservist from Hamilton, Ontario, has died. So sad.

  6. CSK says:

    NORAD is on alert, according to their Twitter feed. There seems to some fear that there will be attacks on aircraft in Canadian air space.

  7. michael reynolds says:

    Obviously we don’t know the who, what or why yet. But Al-Baghdadi called for these kinds of lone wolf attacks, and with ISIS now desperate, I imagine we’ll see more, probably some here in the US as well.

  8. beth says:

    @michael reynolds: I’ve said before that I would be very surprised if we got through this whatever it is we’re having with ISIS (skirmish, war, bombardment?) without some kind of isolated attack here in the U.S.

  9. Scott says:

    @michael reynolds: @beth: Of course, if ISIS may be behind it, they are looking for a knee-jerk response. I hope we don’t oblige them.

  10. beth says:

    @Scott: Hello? Have you met the United States? Of course we’ll overreact.

  11. anjin-san says:

    Well now conservatives have something else to freak out about.

  12. bill says:

    muslim convert, not a tea party wack job. story is over in a day or 2.

  13. bill says:

    and another wacky muslim doing bad stuff, not newsworthy.

    http://nypost.com/2014/10/23/man-shot-dead-after-striking-cop-in-the-head-with-ax/

  14. @bill: Sooo, your proof of lack of news coverage is providing a newspaper story about the incident?

  15. Eric Florack says:

    I think it noteworthy…. the difference between this incident, and Newtown. Unlike Newtown, where so many died, Parliment isnt a gunfree zone. People are alive now that wouldnt be otherwise because of this one fact.

    I wonder if the gunphobes will see it so.
    I tend to doubt it; facts never sway them.