Montreal college shootings

Montreal gunman fired without warning: witnesses

Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:14pm ET162


By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The gunman who attacked a Montreal college on Wednesday was dressed entirely in black, had "a stone cold face" and opened fire without warning, eyewitnesses said.

Reports said about 20 people were wounded in the attack on Dawson College in the city center. One woman died later in hospital and several other victims were listed in critical condition.

Witnesses said the man started his assault outside the college before walking through the front door and continuing to shoot inside.

"He said nothing. He had a stone cold face, there was nothing on his face, he didn't say anything, he didn't yell out any slogans or anything. He just started opening fire. He was a cold blooded killer," said student Soher Marous.

One distraught young woman said she had been outside smoking a cigarette with her friends when the attack began.

"There was a guy walking in a black trenchcoat and huge black boots with this retarded haircut and he had a huge machine gun. He was walking down (the street) in broad daylight with a gun -- no one says anything to him -- and then he started shooting," she told CBC television.

"He shot the people right next to us. They were all running, we were hiding in the bushes, there was debris flying from the bullets shot right next to us. We saw all kinds of people getting shot outside," she said.

The woman said the shooter was white, about 19, and looked like "the stereotype, with the long black trenchcoat and all the studs and piercings and stuff like that".


As the gunman walked into the building, Marous was leaving.

"I was at the front door and all I saw was this guy with an overcoat and army boots and he was holding a two-handed gun. All I saw was him just open fire, paff paff paff, and right away everybody started running," he told CBC.

"We ran right through the front doors and he came after us ... He was meters behind us," said Marous, who added that he had tried to warn other students as he fled for his life.

"There was chaos, chaos. Everybody was running and screaming. As we were running along we were trying to (find) anybody looking around, seeing this whole crowd passing by, we were trying to (say), 'Move, what are you doing sitting there? Move, there's somebody shooting'."

A number of eyewitnesses interviewed on French-language television said professors urged students to barricade themselves inside classrooms and to block doors with desks.

Student Michel Boyer said he had been standing in the hallway waiting for a class when he saw the signs of panic.

"I went to the atrium part of the school and I heard gunshots. Immediately I hit the floor," he told CBC.

Boyer said the gunman -- who he said was dressed in black army fatigues and had a covered face -- was carrying a large firearm.

"It was kind of like a sniper (rifle), but it was bigger than one, and it wasn't automatic, so he had to press a button each time to shoot. I heard at least 20 (shots)," he said.



"I ran into a classroom and kind of broke down because it was seriously something from a movie. It was the most scary thing that has ever happened to me. We ran out of the building as a SWAT team was coming in. They were screaming, 'Where is he? Where is he?', and when you have 20 police running at you with guns you really know that your life is in danger."

Marous said he froze when he saw the gunman and was only saved because a friend insisted he run away.

"It's hard actually, in that situation, to react the way you're supposed to ... I was hesitating, I've never heard a gunshot before, I don't know what it is," he said.



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