Canadian Terrorist Attack in Full Display Today–10/22/14

Today ,October 22,2014 will go down in  Canadian history as a day of infamy. It’s a day which would herald the loss of innocence for Canada for sure. Just 2 days ago,through a hit and run maneuver, a Canadian soldier by the name of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was killed in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec by a radicalized Canadian citizen(Martin Couture-Rouleau). Today,at Canada’s national capital(Ottawa) in Ontario, a soldier reservist by the name of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo,a native of Hamilton,Ontario was shot, injured and eventually died from gunshot injuries in-hospital by 1 of apparently 3 gunmen at the National War Memorial where Cpl. Cerillo was working as a sentry.The incident occurred around 9:52 am EST and minutes later, mass shootings occurred at the nearby Parliament Hill building(the seat of Canadian government).

Amidst the scuffle inside Parliament Hill, the Parliament Sergeant-at-Arms(Kevin Vickers, a native of Miramichi,New Brunswick) shot and killed 1 of the gunmen—Michael Zehab-Bibeau,a 32 y/o natural-born Canadian citizen  from Quebec who was a recent Muslim convert and with a prior history of drug abuse as well as a recent revocation of his passport because of prior dubious international trips.

As a result, the city of Ottawa was and still placed on lockdown at the present time since a massive manhunt for the other gunmen are still  at large.

Sadly, this is the new normal now in this current situation of fighting the war on terror.

In a way, it’s like our own Sept. 11 event.

Killing a soldier who was guarding our own Canadian version of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier speaks only of the  horrendous, attempted desecration by the terrorists of our view in honoring the sanctity of the courage and sacrifices of our men and women in uniform.

I say attempted because honor for the soldiers will never die in spite of today’s event.

In the coming hours and days, hopefully, we would all know the details as to why such a horrendous event had happened here in Canada. Also,hopefully, we will learn from this and take the necessary steps/changes  to improve Canada’s  homeland security system. Let bureaucratic heads roll if necessary.

God help us all!

Josie

Quebec Day Care Shootout

Today(April 5,2013) at 10:27 am ET in Gatineau,Quebec, Canada, a 911 call was phoned in from the day care center called Les Racines de vie Montessori regarding a shootout there at that moment. Police arrived at 10:30 am ET and immediately entered the day care center to find 2 men shot dead on the scene. One of the dead was the gunman who apparently died of a  self-inflicted gunshot wound. The other man was a day care employee. All 53 kids and the rest of the day care staff weren’t hurt and were quickly led out to a neighbor’s house where they were fed with lunch trolleyed in from Hull Hospital which was across the day care center. The neighbors and the daycare staff reacted well in this particular crisis.

To get a perspective of the area, Gatineau,Quebec is a town alongside the Ottawa River. Across this river, one would see Ottawa, Canada’s national capital and all the government buildings standing across this river as well. Ottawa is located within the province of Ontario, therefore, the Ottawa River has 2 provinces facing each other in a way.

Now as to the day care in question, it was opened only last year,based on an inspection report.

The naturally terrified parents immediately rushed to the scene but were asked to wait inside a bus while the police gathered the kids ages from infancy to 4 years of age. It wasn’t clear how much the kids had witnessed the shooting.

At a news conference which was held at 2:30 pm ET, the police said that the gunman entered the day care center which was comprised of 2 houses(225 and 229 Gamelin Street)–229 Gamelin Street had 5 infants and the rest of the brood–all 48 of them ranging in  ages 1-4 were located at the 225 Gamelin Street address. Gunshots were fired at both houses. The lone gunman reportedly carried a shotgun and was threatening people inside the day care center. He allegedly shot a male day care center employee and afterwards, shot himself to death.The shotgun was beside the gunman’s body when the police found both of the deceased.Investigation is still ongoing and so far, the police is working on the premise that the shooting was related to a breakup of a relationship.

Today’s incident reminded everybody on the scene of still fresh  memories of the Dec. 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, USA. Even though this incident had happened in the States, it had touched a raw nerve of emotion to everybody worldwide because it happened to very young schoolkids in a school setting, all due to gunfire.

I had said my piece  regarding my views on mental health intervention, responsible gun ownership  and political bureaucracy on my 12-15-12 blog on the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shootout .

All I can say right now is that mass shootouts will happen anywhere in the world. How to curb them, God only knows,IMO.

Josie