Eyewitness accounts from the shots fired at Parliament Hill

Our Ottawa bureau is on the scene

October 22, 2014

There are reports of shots fired in Ottawa this morning. Our Ottawa bureau is on the scene.

Paul Wells spoke to Barry Willis, who works at a nearby fibre optic company and tells us what he saw and heard:

Matthew Blais, a construction worker who was waiting on east block with view of war memorial, spoke to Michael Petrou and said that someone with a rifle was shooting at the war memorial—more shots than Matthew could count. "I seen a lot of people running and a I saw a guy go down I don’t know how many he hit," said Blais. "From what I seen he was trying to hunt people down and get them really quick."

Blais says the man then got into a green Toyota and drove onto Parliament Hill. He said the man ran into Centre block: "I seen him ran into the main building."

Petrou added that Blais described the shooter as "male with a scarf or bandana like a turban covering most of his face and head." He added that police were on scene "almost instantly."

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