Shooter at large in Ottawa

[The Supreme Canuck]

Minister of Foreign Affairs suggests motive of shooter may be related to Canadian involvement in anti-ISIS air campaign in Iraq.

[The Supreme Canuck]

Reports now that, in the last few days, security was tightened in the Langevin Block (across the street from Parliament, and which houses the PMO).

No public mention was made of increased security risks. In fact, the government denied there were such risks.

[brite]

Last I heard they were linking this, possibly to the running down of the two soldiers Monday....

[The Supreme Canuck]

Not a direct link; the current thinking is that this is inspired by the attack on Monday.

It is interesting that both attackers are from Quebec, though - that's the province where Muslims are absolutely the most alienated from society. It's exactly where you'd expect Muslims to become radicalized.

[The Supreme Canuck]

American media now speculating about whether US needs tighter border controls to protect from Canadian terrorists.

Know what? Fuck you. Canadian media didn't speculate about such things following terrorist attacks in the US.

[The Supreme Canuck]

PM's address now 15 minutes late. CBC speculating as to whether this is related to reinstated lockdown - security concerns may be delaying broadcast.

Edit: PMO now stating address is postponed.

[The Supreme Canuck]

Information about shooter:

Recent convert to Islam.
Father fought with anti-Qaddafi forces in Lybia, was critical of NATO airstrikes.
Had a criminal record - drug offences and robbery/uttering threats.
As a part of the robbery/threat conviction, he underwent a psych assessment, and was found mentally fit.

So... doesn't look like a "crazed gunman" scenario so much as, yeah, a terrorist attack.

Edit: Authorities continue to refuse to rule out possibility of other suspects/gunmen.

[The Supreme Canuck]

PM now addressing nation.

Edit: No information; just platitudes. "Stay strong, won't be intimidated, Canadians are great, terrorists are bad, I have a family, oblique reference to Christian deity as mentioned in national anthem" etc.

Suggests to me that government and authorities are refusing to speculate about things they don't know. Good. I mean, bad that they don't know, but good they aren't speculating.

[The Supreme Canuck]

Leader of Official Opposition now speaking.

Edit: Platitudes again. Different flavour, though. "Stand with Prime Minister, stand with Canadians. Peace good, violence bad. Don't give in to fear. Terrorism cannot work if we don't let it. Don't hate; value diversity."

[The Supreme Canuck]

Oh. Real helpful, CNN. Real helpful.

Are you confident in the security of America's northern with #Canada?

Twitter Link

Edit: Huh. They sure as hell got Anderson Cooper up here to Ottawa pretty quick. Here he is standing next to the mayor. (Bit of an inside joke - Mayor Watson never met a camera he didn't like)

Also, lockdown on Parliament Hill has ended. No word on downtown lockdown.

Edit 2: I mean, FFS, how likely is it that a gunman from Canada is going to shoot someone in the US? Now how likely is it that an American is going to shoot someone in the US? Think about it, CNN...

[Cyborg Girl]

This is why I stay away from CNN and its ilk... Tends to cause headaches and heartburn.That is

[The Supreme Canuck]

Downtown Ottawa clear, lockdowns lifted. Police confirm no threat remains downtown.

I suspect that means it was a single gunman.

[SciFi Chick]

So, after 9/11, we locked down our borders and made passports a requirement going to and from Canada.

Now, three people get killed by terrorists in Canada, and we're going to lock our border down more?

I'm with you TSC. Fuck them.

Glad you're okay.

[SciFiFisher]

PM now addressing nation.

Edit: No information; just platitudes. "Stay strong, won't be intimidated, Canadians are great, terrorists are bad, I have a family, oblique reference to Christian deity as mentioned in national anthem" etc.

Suggests to me that government and authorities are refusing to speculate about things they don't know. Good. I mean, bad that they don't know, but good they aren't speculating.

Leader of Official Opposition now speaking.

Edit: Platitudes again. Different flavour, though. "Stand with Prime Minister, stand with Canadians. Peace good, violence bad. Don't give in to fear. Terrorism cannot work if we don't let it. Don't hate; value diversity."

You are really good at this. Maybe you could make a living out of these translations.

[SciFiFisher]

So, after 9/11, we locked down our borders and made passports a requirement going to and from Canada.

Now, three people get killed by terrorists in Canada, and we're going to lock our border down more?

I'm with you TSC. Fuck them.

Glad you're okay.

Before you two go off and engage in risky behavior be sure that you use protection.

[Swift]

Oh. Real helpful, CNN. Real helpful.

In the words of that great philosopher, Weird Al:

Don't wanna be a Canadian idiot
Won't figure out their temperature in Celsius
See the map, they're hoverin' right over us
Tell you the truth, it makes me kinda nervous

Always hear the same kind of story
Break their nose and they'll just say "sorry"
Tell me what kind of freaks are that polite?
It's gotta mean they're all up to somethin'
So quick, before they see it comin'
Time for a pre-emptive strike!

[geonuc]

I never trusted them Canadians, ever since the War of 1812.

[SciFi Chick]

So, after 9/11, we locked down our borders and made passports a requirement going to and from Canada.

Now, three people get killed by terrorists in Canada, and we're going to lock our border down more?

I'm with you TSC. Fuck them.

Glad you're okay.

Before you two go off and engage in risky behavior be sure that you use protection.

[SciFi Chick]

So I was listening to NPR today, and it turns out the shooter got as far as right outside the office of the PM. That, to me, is very scary, and I'm thinking security should be increased around the Canadian PM.

[The Supreme Canuck]

No. That's incorrect. Here's a map of the Centre Block of Parliament:



The room that I've marked with a blue X is the Conservative caucus room. The room I've marked with an orange X is the NDP caucus room. The Liberal caucus room is on another floor. The shooter, after leaving the War Memorial, drove his car to the street in front the Parliament Hill, hopped out, and hijacked a black Cadillac that I've heard referred to as a "ministerial" car. He drove the car onto the Hill (there's a driveway), parked next to the Peace Tower, and ran inside along the red line I marked. He was killed at the doors of the Parliamentary Library, marked with a star.

He ran in, ran down the hall, and was killed. It was a quick response; you can see it here: YouTube link (not graphic).

Yes, the PM was in the Tory caucus room, along with all Tory MPs, including the cabinet. But it wasn't the PM's office in Centre Block.

The PM was taken to a secret, secure location within seconds. MPs were under lock and guard.

Now, there are going to be questions about Hill security, but there shouldn't be an overreaction. Two things would have stopped this:

1) Better controls on vehicle access to the Hill. I have no idea how he drove up there - there's a gate and all other road access point have bollards. There's a fence, too.
2) He ran in the doors. Access through them is controlled by guard, but they were apparently not locked. They should be.

As far as I'm concerned, no further security measures are needed or warranted. Parliament Hill and the Parliament Buildings themselves should remain accessible to the public. Necessary security measures should be taken, but anything beyond what is needed should not be done. We live in a democracy; Parliament is where democracy lives. Turning the Hill into a fortress would be obscene.

Edit: Fixed link.

[The Supreme Canuck]

Members of Muslim community in #Ottawa gather to pay respects to Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and to denounce acts of terror.

Twitter Link

(I thought it was important to show this - Ottawa Muslims aren't "other" here. They're us.)

[The Supreme Canuck]

Oh god:

"You're a good man, you're a brave man," she told him.

[...]

"You are loved. Your family loves you. You're a good man," she told him.

[...]

She didn't see a wedding ring, and didn't know if he was married. So she just kept repeating:

"Your family loves you. Your parents are so proud of you. Your military family loves you. All the people here, we're working so hard for you. Everybody loves you."

[...]

"You are so loved," Winters told Cirillo. "We're all trying to help you."

[...]

Winters did what most people would do, she says.

"When you are dying, you need to be told how loved you are."

[SciFi Chick]

Oh god:

"You're a good man, you're a brave man," she told him.

[...]

"You are loved. Your family loves you. You're a good man," she told him.

[...]

She didn't see a wedding ring, and didn't know if he was married. So she just kept repeating:

"Your family loves you. Your parents are so proud of you. Your military family loves you. All the people here, we're working so hard for you. Everybody loves you."

[...]

"You are so loved," Winters told Cirillo. "We're all trying to help you."

[...]

Winters did what most people would do, she says.

"When you are dying, you need to be told how loved you are."

Heartbreaking.

[SciFi Chick]

1) Better controls on vehicle access to the Hill. I have no idea how he drove up there - there's a gate and all other road access point have bollards. There's a fence, too.
2) He ran in the doors. Access through them is controlled by guard, but they were apparently not locked. They should be.

As far as I'm concerned, no further security measures are needed or warranted. Parliament Hill and the Parliament Buildings themselves should remain accessible to the public. Necessary security measures should be taken, but anything beyond what is needed should not be done. We live in a democracy; Parliament is where democracy lives. Turning the Hill into a fortress would be obscene.

Edit: Fixed link.

I believe you're contradicting yourself. You say that better controls on vehicle access to the Hill would help. You also think the doors should be locked.

That is further security measures, so I'm confused when you say no further security measures are needed.

[The Supreme Canuck]

"Further" here meaning "beyond what I have just said are needed."

Addendum to that, though. The RCMP have released security footage of the shooter making his way to the Hill. Here's the new timeline as I understand it:



This is downtown Ottawa. Ignore the yellow colours on some of the buildings and the red triangles - they were just on the map I grabbed.

Look at the red circles.

- Circle 1: The National War Memorial. The soldier standing sentry is shot. The shooter reportedly holds the rifle over his head and yells "For Iraq!" He then runs to Circle 2.
- Circle 2: The shooter gets into his car, which he had stopped in the street behind the Memorial, and takes a U-turn to Circle 3.
- Circle 3: There is a pedestrian gate through the fence onto the Hill, here. Vehicles have no access. The shooter abandons his car and runs to Circle 4.
- Circle 4: There are three cars here, idling. They're for ministers, and are waiting outside the entrance to the East Block of Parliament. The shooter hijacks the front car at gunpoint, and ejects the driver. He drives to Circle 5.
- Circle 5: On his way to this point, the shooter is noticed. An RCMP cruiser pursues him from Blue Circle A. When he gets to Circle 5, he abandons his vehicle. See next map.



Centre Block, again. Circle 5 on the previous map corresponds to the start of the red line, outside the building.

- The shooter runs into the building through unlocked but guarded doors.
- There are reports of shots fired before the shootout where he is killed. I'm assuming that he fired at the door guards, and they took cover, at the lower red star. Not confirmed - it just makes sense to me that's how he could get past them.
- Shooter runs up the hallway to the Library.
- Security and police pursue.
- The shooter is killed at the upper red star.

From the soldier being killed to the shooter being killed, it looks like this all took less than five minutes. From entering the Centre Block until he was killed, perhaps half that.

We have also been told that the shooter came to Ottawa from Vancouver to obtain a passport so he could travel to Syria. He was staying in a local homeless shelter. Others staying there have said that he was pretty fanatical - telling them that they should be praying five times a day since the end of the world was coming. He was on no watch lists.

It's becoming clear this was, specifically, a radical Islamist terrorist attack.

Now, as to security changes:

- Since the shooter at no point took a vehicle onto the Hill, instead stealing a car that was already there, vehicle access is probably fine. Which makes sense - as I said, I couldn't understand how he got around the vehicle security that was already there. Answer is he didn't.
- Locking the guarded doors still seems prudent. They should do that. The doors he used are restricted to MPs and Hill personnel already; locking them shouldn't be an inconvenience to them or to tourists, who enter through different doors and go through security screening.
- Given that he ran onto the Hill, I'd have no objection to posting armed guards at the gates. They needn't screen anyone, since that would unduly restrict access to Parliament, in my view, but had they been present they would have seen a car screech to a halt and an armed man get out and run towards them. They could have responded to that. Posting the guards would provide increased security while not turning the place into a fortress. Hell, they do it on Canada Day already.