Updated 8:30 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - The unknown gunman who shot a Canadian soldier standing guard at a war memorial in Ottawa has been killed, a Canadian lawmaker said Wednesday.
“Gunman at Parliament's Centre Block has been shot and killed,” parliamentarian Bernard Trottier wrote on his Twitter.
According to media reports, an unidentified gunman shot a soldier who was guarding the National War Memorial earlier on Wednesday. An official spokesperson for the Ottawa police confirmed to RIA Novosti that shots had been fired in the morning at the memorial and one male was injured in the shooting.
Footage published by The Globe and Mail show a police sweep and heavy shooting inside the Canadian Parliament, which is currently locked down. Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper is safe, his spokesperson confirmed on Twitter.
Local police has advised residents to avoid going to the shooting site and to “stay away from windows and off roofs” in downtown Ottawa.
In addition to the Memorial and the Parliament shootings, gunshots were fired Wednesday at a mall in downtown Ottawa, BBC reported, citing Ottawa police.
The incidents come just two days after a car attack on two members of the Canadian Armed Forces in the city of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu in Quebec. One of the soldiers died after the hit-and-run, while the other sustained less severe injuries, police said. Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Steven Blaney said Tuesday that the attack is linked to terrorism.
Canada has raised the country’s terrorism threat level to medium from low because of the rise of radical Islamist groups statements.
