Terror in the capital

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/10/2014 (4012 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was just another normal day in Ottawa.

But then quite literally, hell broke loose.

I realized something crazy was happening as I arrived on Parliament Hill shortly before 10 a.m. and more RCMP cruisers than I knew were on the Hill began racing towards Centreblock. On Wellington Street, the road that runs in front of Parliament Hill, an RCMP cruiser screeched to a halt so quickly it left the smell of burnt rubber in the air, and the cop jumped out and began racing towards Centreblock with his hand on his gun.

I’ve seen police with their lights on not infrequently on the Hill, and usually it is an abundance of caution. A backpack left behind by accident by a tourist, being checked for explosives. A disturbance among protesters.

But something about this felt different. The sheer number of cars and the urgency in their actions seemed higher than I’ve seen in the past. 

It was several minutes before I got word that there had been shots fired on Parliament Hill. Shortly after that I heard a soldier had been shot at the National War Memorial, which is a little bit to the southeast of Parliament Hill. The memorial has two ceremonial guards standing on either side. Today the guards were reservists from Hamilton.

The suspect then ran towards Parliament Hill where witnesses say he carjacked a car, drove it up to Centreblock and disappeared.

Globe and Mail reporter Josh Wingrove took chilling video inside Parliament Hill, where shots were fired in the Hall of Honour, which is right in the middle of Centreblock. This is the same hallway were ceremonial events take place, where tourists mill about, and where the two biggest conference rooms on the Hill are located. It is usually quite busy.

Reports say Sergeant at Arms Kevin Vickers, shot the suspect. Police later confirmed one suspect was dead inside Centreblock.

On the streets around the Hill, police kept moving the public and media back, first one block, then two, then three. At one point, police shouted “run now” at reporters, as it was feared an armed suspect was in a building nearby.

Downtown office buildings, including my own, were placed in lockdown. From my office I could see police snipers on the roof across the street, carefully searching. Management in my building told people to stay in our offices, and outside people said they could see police streaming into the building.

There are police everywhere, armoured vehicles and swat teams and soldiers are running up and down the streets. Stores and restaurants on Sparks Street, the pedestrian mall one block south of Parliament Hill, were all closed down. 

In Centreblock, staffers I spoke to were terrified. They were hiding under their desks, barricading the doors with tables. Parliament Hill security sent several messages telling people to do just that and to not open their doors under any circumstances.

Police and Parliament Hill security are going door by door in Centreblock to identify everyone inside. If they can’t get into an office, they are breaking down the doors. 

Wednesday mornings on Parliament Hill are reserved for caucus meetings. The Conservatives, NDP and Liberals all meet in different rooms and normally reporters line up outside those rooms to try and chat with MPs as they leave. Two of these caucus meetings take place in rooms just off the Hall of Honour, where the shooting took place.

The shooting began just as the meetings were supposed to begin.

Manitoba MP Kevin Lamoureux says the Liberals, who meet in a smaller room in the basement of Centreblock, were evacuated through a back door from the basement, and then ushered through the construction site of West Block, and towards the Confederation Building, which is on the west side of Parliament Hill.

Many other MPs remain in lock down inside Centreblock. Cell signals appear to be blocked in much of downtown Ottawa, making phone calls and text messages difficult to get through.

The RCMP just had a press conference where they couldn’t say much, including whether or not there is another suspect or not. Since much of Ottawa remains in lockdown and police still say the public should stay away from downtown, it feels as if they may not know the actual answer to this yet themselves.

There are a lot of questions out there that will be answered eventually but at the moment, there is more unknown than known. Rumours were flying, including that there was another shooting at the Rideau Centre, a shopping mall just east of Parliament Hill. Others reported that a suspect had fled downtown on a motorcycle and was seen as far west as Kanata, on the Queensway freeway that runs through Ottawa. Police later said the Rideau Centre reports were false.

The police say the situation is “fluid and ongoing.” That’s about the only thing we know for sure right now.