Gunmen struck three locations in Canada’s capitol Wednesday morning — the Parliament building, a shopping center and the Canada War Memorial — leaving a soldier shot dead and the nation on alert.
Ottawa police Constable Marc Soucy said a gunman fatally wounded the soldier at Canada’s National War Memorial before going to Parliament. Shots were also fired at Rideau Centre Mall, police said, raising questions that there may have been a second shooter involved. All three sites are within a mile from each other.
A member of the Canadian parliament, Bernard Trottier, tweeted that the gunman had been shot and killed. Witnesses reported hearing gunfire inside the Parliament building and said people were evacuating by climbing down scaffolding set up for repairs.
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“Most of downtown Ottawa is in lockdown,” Constable Soucy said.
Ottawa police say two or three gunmen were involved, CNN reported.
Paramedics took the wounded Canadian soldier away in an ambulance, and the soldier died a few hours later.
U.S. Capitol Police spokesman Shennell Antrobus said Wednesday they were monitoring the situation in Canada, but declined to comment on what extra security measures might be taken in the U.S. Congress.
The incident comes just two days after two Canadian soldiers were hit by a car in Quebec driven by a man with jihadist sympathies. One of them was killed.
The office of the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, said that he was safe, but so far has not issued any further statement. He was scheduled to speak at several public events in Toronto Wednesday, which will likely be cancelled in light of the shooting.
Security experts have increasingly become concerned about “lone wolf” attacks carried out by a single radicalized individual. Experts said that while the Islamic State, often known as ISIS or ISIL, likely does not currently have the ability to carry out large-scale attacks like al Qaeda, the radical group is encouraging single individuals to launch terror attacks in their own countries.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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