Ottawa shooting recounted: ‘I knew something immediately was wrong’
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Version 0 of 1. He was hoping to see parliament and the Ottawa River. As he waited for a sightseeing bus in Canada’s capital, Jan Luchtenburg, heard what he first thought were fireworks. “I heard four shots ring out,” Luchtenburg told reporters, his voice shaking. “Suddenly I saw a small guy with long black hair … with a long rifle, and he ran away from the shots.” A gunman had just shot at a soldier who was standing guard at the National War Memorial, which commemorates the sacrifice made by Canadian soldiers for their country. As a chaotic attack unfolded in the centre of the nation’s capital, residents of this quiet, picturesque city reacted with shock. “All of a sudden I just heard a shot, turned around and there was a guy with a rifle … and just pow pow,” bystander Reevo Namic told CBC News. “Then I saw one of the other armed forces guys just running. He barrelled over, just ran right over. The other guy just dropped. I looked back, just dived underneath and called immediately 911.” One man watched the scene from his third-floor office facing the war memorial. “It was unreal,” the man told the Globe and Mail. He asked not to be identified. “I heard the shot and looked out the window … the shooter came from the west side and aimed right at the young guy that was standing guard and shot him twice. I think he missed with the first shot; it sounded like a shotgun.” The shooter, said construction worker Matthew Blais, jumped in a green car and headed up the street to the federal parliament, a few blocks away. “He parked right in front of parliament and ran into the building.” Reporter Justin Ling was heading back to his office in parliament when a uniformed police officer tore past him. A member of parliament told him that there was an active shooter in the building and Ling took off running down the hall. He ducked into a nearby room for cover with several others. “We heard a series of loud bangs. Five or six in rapid succession. We scattered around the room and took cover. A few were loudly praying, a few others were laughing nervously.” Sandra Bales also heard the shots. “I stuck my head out of the office door, thinking, “What’s going on? I saw someone running up the stairs and knew something immediately was wrong, locked the door, turned off the lights and crawled under my desk,” she told CBC News. She stayed there for 20 minutes, she said, “until security came by, guns drawn. They said, ‘you’re doing the right thing. Stay where you’re at.’” In a back room on the ground floor of the parliament, about 100 members of parliament and their staff were gathered for a weekly caucus meeting, when shots rang out. MP Tony Clement tweeted that he had heard some 30 shots echo through the parliament hallways. MP Charlie Angus told the Ottawa Citizen. “A series of gunshots rang out and we realised they were right on the other side of the door. And it isn’t a very strong door. We put up these flimsy little tables to get people behind and get them under chairs.” Across the city, several government buildings and businesses in the downtown core were on lockdown as were local schools and universities. Shoppers at the Rideau Centre, a mall in the downtown core, were in lockdown, while the RCMP were advising people to “stay away from windows and off roofs.” Reporters were fanned out across the city, despite police warnings. “Move down!” One officer yelled to a group of reporters hovering near the scene of the first shooting. “There’s an active shooter. If you want to die, stay here. If you want to live, keep moving.” In the Chateau Laurier, a stone’s throw away from the first shooting, Carol Devine said people were being told not to leave the building. “I feel the same as I did on September 11,” she told the Globe and Mail. “Its the same kind of weird feeling.” Tasha Truant, calm after having confirmed that her husband and three-year-old were safe, peered out from her office window to where police had barricaded the street. “The city is a bit of ghost town,” she said as she watched a SWAT team run past the window. “Now we’re sort of thinking about the end of the work day. Will be able to pick up our kids?” |