The lock down on Parliament Hill is over. MP’s, staff and tourists are now being allowed to leave, 10 and a half hours after a man shot a soldier standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier before storming into the Parliament buildings. In an address to the nation Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Canadians that today a “terrorist” shot a soldier in cold blood.
Harper says the Ottawa attack will see the Canadian Government stepping up their efforts against terrorism.
The suspect has been identified as Canadian born 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. Zehaf-Bibeau has a criminal record for drugs a decade ago in Montreal and a record for robbery and uttering threats in Vancouver from 2011. He was shot and killed by the Sergeant at Arms Kevin Vickers. Canadian Forces reservist Corporal Nathan Cirillo was gunned down as he stood guard at the National War Memorial.
