S14DB
09-13-2006, 04:34 PM
By Frederic Tomesco and Chris Fournier
Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- An unidentified gunman opened fire at a Montreal college today and wounded at least 20 people before being killed by police, according to officers and hospital officials.
Shooting started in the Dawson College cafeteria at 12:41 p.m. and police arrived on the scene three minutes later, Yvan Delorme, director of the Montreal Police Service, said in a press conference.
Witnesses said a tall, skinny man with a Mohawk haircut and a black trench coat entered the school with a ``large'' gun. Michel Boyer, a student at Dawson, said he heard about 20 shots.
``It was the most frightening moment of my life,'' Boyer, 18, told CBC, Canada's state-owned broadcaster.
The shooting may be the worst in Canada since 1989, when Marc Lepine shot 14 women to death at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal. Several others were injured before Lepine, 25, turned the gun on himself.
About 11 of the injured were treated at Montreal General Hospital, and eight were in ``critical'' condition, hospital spokeswoman Ann Lynch said.
Police shot one unidentified assailant, said Ian Lafreniere, a police spokesman. The 37-year-old school, which is west of Montreal's shopping and financial district, was evacuated.
Cordoned Off
Police cordoned off several blocks around the school, and students were seen fleeing the area and taking cover in nearby apartment buildings. Closed roads included the shopping district of St. Catherine Street, choking traffic in the western part of downtown Montreal, Canada's second-biggest city by population. By 3:30 p.m., three ambulances and 12 police cars were stationed near the school at the corner of Atwater and de Maisonneuve streets.
Delorme said police haven't been able to confirm media reports that there was more than one gunman.
``There have been several rumors of double and triple suspects,'' Delorme told a televised news conference. ``We are taking all necessary measures to try to clarify the situation. For now, I would limit myself to one suspect who died following the intervention of the first policemen on the premises.''
Police haven't yet determined the gunman's motive, Delorme said.
``One of the things we can say with certainty is the perpetrators are always young men who appear to be disgruntled,'' Simon Fraser University criminologist Neil Boyd said in an interview from Burnaby, British Columbia. ``Either because of a personal relationship gone wrong or because of some imagined grievance against the world in general.''
Columbine
In 1999, students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot 13 people to death and wounded more than 20 others before turning their guns on themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. About a week after the Columbine murders, a 14-year-old boy shot two schoolmates at W.R. Myers High School in Taber, Alberta, leading to the death of one, 17-year-old Jason Lang.
Michelle Gosse, a 24 year-old Dawson College student from Halifax, Nova Scotia, said she and her classmates evacuated the building after one of her friends received a call on her mobile phone to warn her about the shooting.
``There was no alarm and it seemed there was no organized way to get out of the school,'' she said in an interview. ``When we got out on the sidewalk, I saw a victim. It looked like he'd been shot in the neck.''
`Blood on the Walls'
Eighteen-year-old Tracy Frem was escorted out of the building by police after she received text messages from friends about a shooting in the building.
``When we came down, we saw blood on the walls,'' she said. ``There were lots of cops, lots of dogs and bloodstains.''
The English-language school has about 10,000 day and night students, according to its Web site. The Sherbrooke Street CEGEP, as the colleges are known in the French-speaking province of Quebec, is attended by students in between high school and university. Most of the students are aged 16 to 19.
``All of Quebec is dismayed,'' Premier Jean Charest said in comments broadcast by RDI television. `` We are profoundly sad for the victims, the families, the parents who have children at Dawson. It's a day of great worry.''
The Dawson College shooting halted some transit service in Montreal. Subways between the McGill and Lionel-Groulx stations were stopped until further notice, said Isabelle Tremblay, a spokeswoman for the Societe de Transport de Montreal, which runs the transit system.
Police also evacuated the Place Alexis-Nihon shopping center, across the street from the old Montreal Forum hockey arena where the Montreal Canadiens played, as well as the Westmount Square office-tower complex.
(Family members of Dawson College students can call (514) 280-2880 or (514) 280-2806 for more information, police said.)
To contact the reporter for this story: Frederic Tomesco in Montreal at [email protected] ; Chris Fournier in Montreal at [email protected] .
Last Updated: September 13, 2006 17:59 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a3pOxsfXhbtA&refer=home
Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- An unidentified gunman opened fire at a Montreal college today and wounded at least 20 people before being killed by police, according to officers and hospital officials.
Shooting started in the Dawson College cafeteria at 12:41 p.m. and police arrived on the scene three minutes later, Yvan Delorme, director of the Montreal Police Service, said in a press conference.
Witnesses said a tall, skinny man with a Mohawk haircut and a black trench coat entered the school with a ``large'' gun. Michel Boyer, a student at Dawson, said he heard about 20 shots.
``It was the most frightening moment of my life,'' Boyer, 18, told CBC, Canada's state-owned broadcaster.
The shooting may be the worst in Canada since 1989, when Marc Lepine shot 14 women to death at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal. Several others were injured before Lepine, 25, turned the gun on himself.
About 11 of the injured were treated at Montreal General Hospital, and eight were in ``critical'' condition, hospital spokeswoman Ann Lynch said.
Police shot one unidentified assailant, said Ian Lafreniere, a police spokesman. The 37-year-old school, which is west of Montreal's shopping and financial district, was evacuated.
Cordoned Off
Police cordoned off several blocks around the school, and students were seen fleeing the area and taking cover in nearby apartment buildings. Closed roads included the shopping district of St. Catherine Street, choking traffic in the western part of downtown Montreal, Canada's second-biggest city by population. By 3:30 p.m., three ambulances and 12 police cars were stationed near the school at the corner of Atwater and de Maisonneuve streets.
Delorme said police haven't been able to confirm media reports that there was more than one gunman.
``There have been several rumors of double and triple suspects,'' Delorme told a televised news conference. ``We are taking all necessary measures to try to clarify the situation. For now, I would limit myself to one suspect who died following the intervention of the first policemen on the premises.''
Police haven't yet determined the gunman's motive, Delorme said.
``One of the things we can say with certainty is the perpetrators are always young men who appear to be disgruntled,'' Simon Fraser University criminologist Neil Boyd said in an interview from Burnaby, British Columbia. ``Either because of a personal relationship gone wrong or because of some imagined grievance against the world in general.''
Columbine
In 1999, students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot 13 people to death and wounded more than 20 others before turning their guns on themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. About a week after the Columbine murders, a 14-year-old boy shot two schoolmates at W.R. Myers High School in Taber, Alberta, leading to the death of one, 17-year-old Jason Lang.
Michelle Gosse, a 24 year-old Dawson College student from Halifax, Nova Scotia, said she and her classmates evacuated the building after one of her friends received a call on her mobile phone to warn her about the shooting.
``There was no alarm and it seemed there was no organized way to get out of the school,'' she said in an interview. ``When we got out on the sidewalk, I saw a victim. It looked like he'd been shot in the neck.''
`Blood on the Walls'
Eighteen-year-old Tracy Frem was escorted out of the building by police after she received text messages from friends about a shooting in the building.
``When we came down, we saw blood on the walls,'' she said. ``There were lots of cops, lots of dogs and bloodstains.''
The English-language school has about 10,000 day and night students, according to its Web site. The Sherbrooke Street CEGEP, as the colleges are known in the French-speaking province of Quebec, is attended by students in between high school and university. Most of the students are aged 16 to 19.
``All of Quebec is dismayed,'' Premier Jean Charest said in comments broadcast by RDI television. `` We are profoundly sad for the victims, the families, the parents who have children at Dawson. It's a day of great worry.''
The Dawson College shooting halted some transit service in Montreal. Subways between the McGill and Lionel-Groulx stations were stopped until further notice, said Isabelle Tremblay, a spokeswoman for the Societe de Transport de Montreal, which runs the transit system.
Police also evacuated the Place Alexis-Nihon shopping center, across the street from the old Montreal Forum hockey arena where the Montreal Canadiens played, as well as the Westmount Square office-tower complex.
(Family members of Dawson College students can call (514) 280-2880 or (514) 280-2806 for more information, police said.)
To contact the reporter for this story: Frederic Tomesco in Montreal at [email protected] ; Chris Fournier in Montreal at [email protected] .
Last Updated: September 13, 2006 17:59 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a3pOxsfXhbtA&refer=home