CREDIT: REUTERS/CHRIS WATTIE
(Reuters) – A Canadian soldier was shot at the Canadian War Memorial in Ottawa and a shooter was seen running towards the nearby parliament buildings, where more shots were fired, according to media and eyewitness reports on Wednesday.
The buildings were put on lockdown as police and tactical teams converged on the area. The wounded soldier was taken into an ambulance where medical personnel could be seen giving him cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.
The shooting comes two days after an Islamic convert ran down two Canadian soldiers with his car, killing one, near Montreal, before being shot and killed by police.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was safe and has left the parliament buildings, his office said in an email.
A construction worker on the scene told Reuters he heard a gunshot, and then saw a man dressed in black with a scarf over his face running towards parliament with a gun.
The man stopped a black car at gunpoint and hijacked it, construction worker Scott Walsh told Reuters. The driver got out safely, then the man drove the car to the Centre Block on Parliament Hill, where construction work is underway.
The gunman rushed past a woman with a child in a stroller, who ran away screaming. He did not attack the woman or child, Walsh said.
Centre Block is the main building at Parliament Hill, a sprawling complex of buildings and open space in downtown Ottawa. It contains the House of Commons and Senate chambers, as well as the offices of some members of parliament, senators, and senior administration for both legislative houses.
A Globe and Mail reporter in Centre Block on Parliament Hill tweeted that the building was under lockdown after “at least one shooter burst in and opened fire”.
