Posted on 09/13/2006 10:42:27 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Edited on 09/13/2006 2:49:00 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
MONTREAL A gunman in a black trench coat and sporting a mohawk haircut opened fire Wednesday at a Montreal college and wounded at least 20 people _ six critically _ before he apparently was killed by police, witnesses and authorities said.
Scores of panicked students at Dawson College near downtown fled into the surrounding streets after the shooting broke out at the school of about 10,000. Some had clothes stained with blood.
Police spokesman Ean Lafreniere said there was just one gunman at the school and the search for any others was over.
Although police initially suggested the gunman had killed himself, Police Director Yvan DeLorme later said at a news conference that "based on current information, the suspect was killed by police."
CBC-TV showed police with guns drawn standing behind a police cruiser as a SWAT team swarmed the 12-acre campus. A bloody body covered in a yellow sheet lay next to a police cruiser near an entrance to a school building.
Montreal General Hospital said 11 people were admitted, including six who were in critical condition. The other nine were taken to two other hospitals.
Witnesses said a man wearing a black trench coat entered the school cafeteria and opened fire wordlessly.
Derick Osei, 19, said he was walking down the stairs to the second- floor cafeteria when he saw a man with a gun.
"He ... just started shooting up the place. I ran up to the third floor and I looked down and he was still shooting," Osei said. "He was hiding behind the vending machines and he came out with a gun and started pointing and pointed at me. So I ran up the stairs. I saw a girl get shot in the leg."
Osei said people in the cafeteria were all lying on the floor.
"I saw the gunman who was dressed in black and at that time he was shooting at people," student Michel Boyer told CTV. "I immediately hit the floor. It was probably one of the most frightening moments of my life."
"He was shooting randomly, I didn't know what he was shooting at, but everyone was screaming get out of the building," Boyer said. "Everybody was in tears. Everybody was so worried for their own safety for their own lives."
Raamias Hernandez, 19, said he had just finished his class when he saw everybody starting to run.
He said the gunman was dressed in a black jacket and had a mohawk haircut. Hernandez said he started to take pictures on a camera cell phone with his friend and the suspect saw them and started shooting.
Student Devansh Smri Vastava said he saw a man in military fatigues with "a big rifle" storm the cafeteria.
"He just started shooting at people," Vastava said, adding that he heard about 20 shots fired. He also said teachers ran through the halls telling students to get out.
"We all ran upstairs. There were cops firing. It was so crazy," Vastava said. "I was terrified. The guy was shooting at people randomly. He didn't care, he was just shooting at everybody. I just got out."
A SWAT team and canine units were dispatched to the school, going floor by floor to look for victims, Sgt. Giuseppe Boccardi told CNN.
People also were evacuated from two nearby shopping centers.
Canada's worst mass shooting also happened in Montreal. Gunman Marc Lepine killed 14 women at the Ecole Polytechnic on Dec. 6, 1989, before shooting himself.
The 25-year-old Lepine roamed the halls of the school firing a rifle, specifically targeting women whom he claimed in a suicide note had ruined his life. Nine other women and four men were wounded.
That shooting spurred efforts for tighter gun laws and greater awareness of societal violence _ particularly domestic abuse. Canada's tighter gun law was achieved mainly as the results of efforts by survivors and relatives of the victims.
Another shooting in Montreal occurred in 1992, when a Concordia University professor killed four colleagues.
Dawson College was the first English-language institution in Quebec's network of university preparatory colleges when it was founded in It is the largest college of general and vocational education, known by its French acronym CEGEP, in the province.
Reading that one suspect had a laser sight on his rifle.
SWAT Team shot one suspect, other suicided per lastest report from the scene on FoxNews...
Police still going through upper floors, finding packs of students/teachers huddled in buildings...
Police still looking for 1 or 2 more gunmen (3rd or 4th gunmen)...
Motive unknown, students didn't recognize gunmen...
A man dressed in black trenchcoat was carried out of the building.
He looked unconscious or dead.
Police put handcuffs on him immediately.
In 1988, Dawson College moved to the former Mother House of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame, full consolidation under one roof only happened in 1997, when the Selby building was finally closed. Extensive renovations rendered the century-old building into an attractive, modern, and well-equipped college, occupying an entire city block between de Maisonneuve Boulevard and Sherbrooke Street and Atwater and Wood Avenues in Westmount.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213667,00.html
"Reports: Two Gunmen Open Fire at Montreal College"
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "MONTREAL — Two gunman opened fire Wednesday on the campus of a Montreal college, wounding at least 10 people, witnesses and police said."
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Witnesses said one shooter was wearing a black trench coat and was firing at students and teachers at random in one of the school's cafeterias. Other witnesses said a gunman was dressed in camouflage fatigues.
The CTV network, citing government sources, reported that 12 people were taken to area hospitals for treatment. Six were in critical condition."
I used to live a block away.
Dawson college is right next to a Alexis Nihon plaza
which is right on a major subway station
(which has been closed down)
about half a mile from the center of town.
Traffic is completely paralyzed.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=68acc620-13e3-46d6-8e03-c2602e7e7d3e&k=37896
"Montreal shootings recall 1989 massacre at Ecole polytechnique"
CP
September 13, 2006
Yep, that story about "the trenchcoat mafia" died out very fast at Columbine. Still wonder about it.
Just one shooter...sounds like they are calling it all clear.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/09/13/montreal-witness.html
"Witnesses tell of chaos as college targeted"
Last Updated Wed, 13 Sep 2006 15:23:04 EDT
CBC News
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Another eyewitness told CBC News she was smoking outside the college when she saw a tall, white man wearing a long black trenchcoat walk down the street with a large gun."
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "He was with a number of other people, said the woman, who was shaking and crying as she spoke.
The man was about 19 years old with body piercings and wore clothing with studs, she said. He fired a number of times before going inside the school, the woman added."
Sehr Marous said he and his friend Marie were exiting the school when they noticed a man holding a gun with both hands."
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Family members of Dawson College students can call (514) 280-2880 or (514) 280-2806 for more information, police said.
The information hotline at Montreal General Hospital is (514) 843-2839."
So are the Muzzies, anyone know?
Drudge is now reporting two shooters.
Now FoxNews also saying one gunmen, and he's dead.
well, the Columbine shooters were presribed mood altering drugs by the school doctors....that never came out either. How is patient privacy relevant after they have died?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/09/13/montreal.shooting/index.html
"College: 2 gunmen dead after shooting"
POSTED: 3:48 p.m. EDT, September 13, 2006
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "MONTREAL, Quebec (CNN) -- Fears that "multiple shooters" were firing weapons at Dawson College in downtown Montreal prompted police to cordon off the 12-acre campus Wednesday, a police spokesman said.
Two of the gunmen were killed, the college administration office said in a recorded message. One of the gunmen was shot by police, the message said."
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Another police spokesman told reporters that a SWAT team was in the college because "we believe there might be other suspects inside the Dawson College.""
Ping for follow up
Well, one thing is clear - the number of gunmen keeps changing.
I've long held the view that we were given a lot of seleted misinformation about that gruesome affair.
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