College gunman killed by police after wounding 20
A gunman in a black coat and sporting a mohawk haircut opened fire at a college today, wounding at least 20 people before being killed by police.
Scores of panicking students at Dawson College in Montreal, Canada, fled into the surrounding streets after the shooting broke out at the school of about 10,000 students. 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 that the gunman had killed himself, Montreal’s police director, Yvan DeLorme, said later that “based on current information, the suspect was killed by police”.
Police with guns drawn stood behind a police vehicle as a team swarmed over the 12-acre campus. A bloody body covered in a yellow sheet lay next to a police vehicle near an entrance to a school building.
Seeta Ramdass of Montreal General Hospital said 11 people were admitted to the hospital, including six who were in critical condition. Two were in serious condition and four were stable.
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,” Mr Vastava said, adding that he heard about 20 shots fired. He also said teachers ran through the halls telling students to get out.
Other witnesses spoke of a gunman wearing a black trench coat.
“We all ran upstairs. There were cops firing. It was so crazy,” Mr 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.”
Derick Osei, 19, said he was walking down the stairs 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,” Mr 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.”
Mr Osei said people in the cafeteria were all lying on the floor.
Student Michel Boyer said: “I saw the gunman, who was dressed in black, and at that time he was shooting at people. 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’.
“Everybody was in tears. Everybody was so worried for their own safety for their own lives.”
A SWAT team and dog units were at the campus, going floor by floor to look for victims.
People have also been evacuated from two nearby shopping centres.
Canada’s worst mass shooting also happened in Montreal. Gunman Marc Lepine killed 14 women at the Ecole Polytechnic on December 6 1989,
Lepine, 25, roamed the halls of the school firing a rifle, specifically targeting women, who he claimed in a suicide note had ruined his life. Nine other women and four men were wounded.
Dawson College was the first English-language institution in Quebec’s network of university preparatory colleges when it was founded in 1969. It is the largest college of general and vocational education, known by its French acronym CEGEP, in the province.
