RCMP Press Conference at 2pmET:
Live Feed here via FOX News
RCMP Statement: [5]
The Ottawa Police Service and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) responded to reports of shooting incidents this morning in the downtown area. Police can now confirm that incidents occurred at the National War Memorial and on Parliament Hill.
Contrary to earlier reports no incident occurred near the Rideau Centre.
One shooting victim succumbed to injuries. He was a member of the Canadian Forces. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his loved ones.
Next of kin notification is underway and as such, the victim’s identification will not be released.
One male suspect has also been confirmed deceased. There is no further update on injuries at this time.
This is an ongoing joint police operation and there is no one in custody at this time.
Ottawa residents are asked to stay away from the downtown area while the investigation continues. If you work in one of the downtown buildings, follow the instructions from the building management you are in.
A number of RCMP and Federal government buildings are also closed to the public; as is Ottawa City Hall and all Ottawa Police stations.
UPDATE: Sadly the soldier who was shot at the War Memorial has died.
#BREAKING [6] Minister of Employment Jason Kenney confirms the soldier shot in Ottawa is dead http://t.co/lKTCYy4qry [7] pic.twitter.com/COnhvF3DyU [8]
— TorontoStar (@TorontoStar) October 22, 2014 [9]
UPDATE: Ottawa Police Confirm at least 3 Separate Shooting Sites and Multiple Suspects
At least two people are injured, including a soldier, after shots were fired in the Parliamentary precinct in Ottawa on Wednesday morning; one shooter is dead and police suspect as many as two others are on the loose.
A dark-clothed gunman fired the shots just before 10 a.m. at the Canadian War Memorial, where a uniformed soldier was shot. The gunman then fled for Parliament Hill, where he unleashed more gunfire inside Centre Block. A security guard was injured before the sergeant-at-arms shot the suspect dead, according to multiple reports.
Ottawa Police said there was also an incident near the Rideau Centre, a large mall metres from Parliament Hill.
CANADA PARLIAMENT SHOOTING:
- Still active shooter
- 3 separate shooting sites
- Multiple gunmen
- 1 gunmen dead
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UPDATE: *CANADA SHOOTER KILLED IN OTTAWA, 2 LAWMAKERS SAY ON TWITTER but CBS reports multiple suspects at large after more than 30 shots fired at Canadian Parliament
- POLICE SAID TRACKING TWO MORE POSSIBLE SUSPECTS: OTTAWA CITIZEN
- AT LEAST 20 SHOTS FIRED IN CANADA PARLIAMENT: WITNESSES - AFP
MAP OF SHOOTING AREA (via @globeandmail [10]): pic.twitter.com/s1T8kDOn0z [11]
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 22, 2014 [12]
Downtown Ottawa on lockdown, view from 55 Metcalfe, 1 block from Parliament Hill. White vehicles are police cars. pic.twitter.com/bR97Fv7Btj [13]
— Don Kelly (@thedonkelly) October 22, 2014 [14]
Live Feed via NBC:
Live webcast from CBC after the jump:
[15]
Two days after two Canadian soldiers were hit by a car driven by Martin Couture-Rouleau, a 25-year-old Canadian who, as The Globe and Mail reported [16], "converted to Islam recently and called himself Ahmad Rouleau," Bloomberg reports:
- *SHOTS FIRED AT CANADA WAR MEMORIAL
- *SOLDIER SEEN FALLING TO GROUND AT CANADA WAR MEMORIAL
- *CANADA POLICE SAY OTTAWA SHOOTER STILL ON THE LOOSE
- *CANADA PARLIAMENT EVACUATED AFTER SHOTS FIRED IN OTTAWA
- *CANADA'S RCMP POLICE ASK PEOPLE STAY AWAY FROM PARLIAMENT
- *CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER IS SAFE, HAS LEFT PARLIAMENT HILL: CBC
- *OTTAWA'S RIDEAU SHOPPING CENTER EVACUATED: CANADIAN PRESS
- *MANY DOWNTOWN OTTAWA STREETS CLOSED, CITY SAYS AVOID AREA
[17]
As Glenn Greenwald remarked after the attacks on Monday, [18] the right-wing Canadian government wasted no time in seizing on the incident to promote its fear-mongering agenda over terrorism, which includes pending legislation to vest its intelligence agency, CSIS, with more spying and secrecy powers in the name of fighting ISIS.
- CANADIAN PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS IN LOCKDOWN AFTER REPORT OF ACTIVE SHOOTER
Military moving in on Parliament building...
[19]
#Update [20]: Picture of armed police inside Canadian Parliament (photo: @skymarkwhite [21]) pic.twitter.com/M2cRr18Fia [22]
— Russian Market (@russian_market) October 22, 2014 [23]
As Bloomberg reports,
Shots were fired at Canada’s war memorial close to Ottawa’s parliament buildings.
A soldier was on ground, apparently shot
Police are on the scene
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Live Feed from local news: (click image for feed - no embed)
[24]
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As Glenn Greenwald remarked (regardin Monday's attack): [18]
The right-wing Canadian government wasted no time in seizing on the incident to promote its fear-mongering agenda over terrorism, which includes pending legislation to vest its intelligence agency, CSIS, with more spying and secrecy powers in the name of fighting ISIS. A government spokesperson asserted “clear indications” that the driver “had become radicalized.”
In a “clearly prearranged exchange,” a conservative MP, during parliamentary “question time,” asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pictured above) whether this was considered a “terrorist attack”; in reply, the Prime Minister gravely opined that the incident was “obviously extremely troubling.” Canada’s Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney pronounced the incident “clearly linked to terrorist ideology,” while newspapers predictably followed suit, calling it a “suspected terrorist attack” and “homegrown terrorism.” CSIS spokesperson Tahera Mufti said “the event was the violent expression of an extremist ideology promoted by terrorist groups with global followings” and added: “That something like this would happen in a peaceable Canadian community like Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu shows the long reach of these ideologies.”
In sum, the national mood and discourse in Canada is virtually identical to what prevails in every western country whenever an incident like this happens: shock and bewilderment that someone would want to bring violence to such a good and innocent country (“a peaceable Canadian community like Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu”), followed by claims that the incident shows how primitive and savage is the “terrorist ideology” of extremist Muslims, followed by rage and demand for still more actions of militarism and freedom-deprivation.
* * *
Images from the scene...
BREAKING paramedics working on man lying next to war memorial #cdnpoli [25] pic.twitter.com/eWkJALMoxF [26]
— Shirlee Engel (@ShirleeEngel) October 22, 2014 [27]
BREAKING: Witness reports hearing gunshots at War Memorial in Ottawa. Man lying on the ground next to it. #cdnpoli [25]
— Shirlee Engel (@ShirleeEngel) October 22, 2014 [28]
Police and soldiers shouting to get out of area #cdnpoli [25]
— Shirlee Engel (@ShirleeEngel) October 22, 2014 [29]
Soldier now being loaded into ambulance #cbcott [30] pic.twitter.com/RCcdacR1w6 [31]
— Giacomo Panico (@GiacomoPanico) October 22, 2014 [32]
Happening now at the war memorial #ottnews [33] pic.twitter.com/MvXICBIa75 [34]
— Carys Mills (@CarysMills) October 22, 2014 [35]
[22.10-16:10] FOTO #Ottawa [36] #Canada [37] Sparatoria presso Ottawa War Memorial +3 #feriti [38] #emergenza24 [39] pic.twitter.com/q1QBZehAey [40]
— Emergenza24 (@Emergenza24) October 22, 2014 [41]
The Canadian Dollar is surging against the dollar...
[42]
* * *
Glenn Greenwald updates his previous comments about Monday's attack [18]...
Multiple conservative commentators have claimed that this article and my subsequent discussion of it are about this morning’s shooting of a solider in Ottawa. Aside from the fact that what I wrote is expressly about a completely different incident – one that took place in Quebec on Monday – this article and my comments were published before this morning’s shooting spree was reported. So unless someone believes I possess powers of clairvoyance, the claim that I was commenting on the Ottawa shooting – about which virtually nothing is known, including the identity and motive of the shooter(s) – is obviously false.
Then there’s also the extremely predictable accusation that I was justifying the attack on the soldiers. I know from prior experience in making these arguments that no matter how clear you make it that you are writing about causation and not justification, many will still distort what you write to claim you’ve justified the attack. That’s true even if one makes as clear as the English language permits that you’re not writing about justification: “The issue here is not justification (very few people would view attacks on soldiers in a shopping mall parking lot to be justified). The issue is causation.” If there’s a way to make that any clearer, please let me know.
One more time: the difference between “causation” and “justification” is so obvious that it should require no explanation. If one observes that someone who smokes four packs of cigarettes a day can expect to develop emphysema, that’s an observation about causation, not a celebration of the person’s illness. Only a willful desire to distort, or some deep confusion, can account for a failure to process this most basic point.
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