Canadian Parliament on lockdown after deadly shooting

[Shryke]

They still aren't sure if there was even another shooter it seems. Shit is hectic during these events so who knows.

Only 1 victim so far though.

Years ago there was a group of young men in the process of being radicalized who got together in the woods to train. The plan was to attack the Parliament buildings, capture PM Stephen Harper and behead him.

The government has been aware that our Parliament buildings have been a target for almost a decade now. The shooting at the War Memorial was easy, the honour guard are obviously just sitting ducks, standing on guard in honour of the dead. The idea that someone would shoot a soldier there is just disgusting.

But the fact the shooter, carrying a long gun of some kind, got into Parliament and into the Great Hall, right outside the rooms where on either side the entire government was meeting in caucus and on the other side the Opposition was meeting in caucus, without being stopped, suggests a level of gross incompetence that is beyond belief.

Eh. He was shot and killed before he did any damage inside the building. The system mostly works.

[Shryke]

Anyway, we all know the scariest thing here is what Harper will do using this as his reason.

[Pod The Impaler]

One shooter dead.

One soldier dead.

Police not certain that there are other suspects, but they are still looking.

Anyway, we all know the scariest thing here is what Harper will do using this as his reason.

:agree:

[Lord of Oop North]

Maybe only a weird coincidence, but the updated CSIS Act that was to give CSIS increased powers to "fight terrorists" was supposed to be tabled this week.

Bet that gets passed without much incident.

[snake]

Anyway, we all know the scariest thing here is what Harper will do using this as his reason.

I mentioned that to my girlfriend at lunch time. Hope the country doesn't get gripped in a state of fear and paranoia. My GF's mother is already panicking and swears she isn't travelling outside our province anymore and thinking that ISIS is gonna start invading.

[Arkhangel]

Maybe only a weird coincidence, but the updated CSIS Act that was to give CSIS increased powers to "fight terrorists" was supposed to be tabled this week.

Bet that gets passed without much incident.

You too, huh?

I don't think there's anything conspiratorial about it, but I think it's pretty clear that security services always want to expand their powers and are not above opportunistically capitalising on tragedies and public fear to do so. The rise of ISIS has given a lot of agencies around the world the excuse they needed to start pushing for more power.

[Aemon Stark]

I mentioned that to my girlfriend at lunch time. Hope the country doesn't get gripped in a state of fear and paranoia. My GF's mother is already panicking and swears she isn't travelling outside our province anymore and thinking that ISIS is gonna start invading.

It's ok. Something tells me ISIS won't manage well during a winter a Newfoundland let alone Labrador.

[Shryke]

It's ok. Something tells me ISIS won't manage well during a winter a Newfoundland let alone Labrador.

Headline next summer:

"ISIS bombing team found dead outside St-John's as snow-drifts melt"

[Aemon Stark]

Not an unrealistic headline given how terrible snow-clearing is.

[Fragile Bird]

Shryke, can you imagine a lone gunmen getting into the US Congress or the Senate? That we didn't get a bloodbath is likely pretty damn lucky.

[kairparavel]

You mean like when Denis Lortie got into the Quebec National Assembly?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

With all the discussion about "possible" and "alleged" suspects still loose does the timeing of the shootings allow for one person to have accomplished them all?

[arya_underfoot]

Not sure how authentic this is, but the reports we're getting here in Australia (from a foreign correspondent of the state broadcaster) suggest that it was only one shooter who killed a guard at a war memorial and ran across the road into the parliament building.

[Fragile Bird]

Kair, yes, we don't seem to protect our democratic institutions very well, do we? Is it because most Canadians simply can't imagine doing something like this? Because very few of us own guns?

And speaking of guns, with no long-gun registry, did the RCMP or CSIS even know this guy owned a gun?

[kairparavel]

Downtown is still in lockdown and there has been no official confirmation on the second suspect, one way or the other.

This from www.cbc.ca

[Fragile Bird]

Not sure how authentic this is, but the reports we're getting here in Australia (from a foreign correspondent of the state broadcaster) suggest that it was only one shooter who killed a guard at a war memorial and ran across the road into the parliament building.

We don't know enough details yet. It is suspected there were at least 2 people involved, because the gunman wore a particular kind of scarf on his head ("Arabic type head scarf" :dunno: ) and an eye-witness said there was a second man wearing the same kind of scarf in the background at the War Memorial. And Ottawa is still under lockdown while buildings are being searched.

The gunman did not run across the street into the Parliament building, he used his gun to commandeer a car and drove up to the entrance. I think it's safe to say the plan was to kill members of parliament if possible.

The shooter was born in Canada in 1982, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, lived in Montreal for a while.

On Monday another Quebec resident ran over two soldiers in a shopping mall parking lot, killing one of them. The killer then escaped with his car, flipped it at high speed, and was shot and killed after he got out of the car. His facebook page was filled with hateful radical Islamic material. He was known to authorities, had been reported by his parents, and people had been working with him to un-radicalize him (de-radicalize him?), including his imam.

The victim was 24 year old Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, a reservist from Hamilton, Ontario. I'm not going to mention his killer's name without mentioning his name as well. Poor kid. My deepest sympathies to his family.

[Lord of Oop North]

With all the discussion about "possible" and "alleged" suspects still loose does the timeing of the shootings allow for one person to have accomplished them all?

I don't know what the timeline is, but the War Memorial is literally right across the road from Parliament. So, it would theoretically be possible to move between the two locations rather quickly, especially if he was driven, which is what is being suggested.

[Shryke]

Shryke, can you imagine a lone gunmen getting into the US Congress or the Senate? That we didn't get a bloodbath is likely pretty damn lucky.

Is it lucky? Or is it that security pretty much worked?

Cause it seems like this guy ran around with a gun in parliament and all that happened is he got shot and killed. That's the desired outcome.

[TrueMetis]

Shryke, can you imagine a lone gunmen getting into the US Congress or the Senate? That we didn't get a bloodbath is likely pretty damn lucky.

Not Shryke, but Yes.

[Fragile Bird]

Is it lucky? Or is it that security pretty much worked?

Cause it seems like this guy ran around with a gun in parliament and all that happened is he got shot and killed. That's the desired outcome.

Lucky.

He mis-timed things. Half an hour, 40 minutes later the caucus meetings would have been over and the hallway would have been full, the entryway to Parliament would have been the scene of interviews, possibly with the Security Minister because of the anti-terrorism legislation that was going to be introduced. Imagine if he had gunned down the Security Minister.

The guy who who spied on the Toronto 18 wanne-be terrorist group is on the CBC just now wondering how the hell a gunman got in after all of that went down, and then Greenpeace broke into the Parliament buildings and hung that banner from the roof. Why hasn't there been vastly improved security?